Caloric intake and weight gain in a neonatal intensive care unit

The aim of this paper was to study the weight gain in very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants by adopting earlier and higher intake of proteins and earlier intake of lipids. We studied 28 VLBW infants admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit during the year 2004 (group 1) and 18 during the first semester of 2006 (group 2). Dietary intakes for group 1 were: 1 g kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ of proteins started at postnatal day 2 (P2) and 0.5–1 g kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ of lipids at P3; for group 2, 1–1.5 g kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ of proteins and 0.5–1 g kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ of lipids, both started at P1. Caloric intake was significantly higher in group 2 (p < 0.05), whereas cumulative nutritional deficit was higher in group 1 (p ≤ 0.01). Weight z scores were significantly lower at discharge comparing with z scores at birth for each group (p ≤ 0.01), with no differences between the two groups. Despite a higher protein intake which resulted in a lower nutritional deficit, the weight z score did not improve significantly at discharge.