Transition Phase Nutrition Recommendations: A Missing Link in the Nutrition Management of Preterm Infants

Background: Despite the availability of international nutrition recommendations, preterm infants remain vulnerable to suboptimal nutrition. The standard approach of assessing nutrient intakes chronologically may make it difficult to identify the origin of nutrient deficits and/or excesses. Objective: To develop a “nutrition phase” approach to evaluating nutrition support, enabling analysis of nutrient intakes during the period of weaning from parenteral nutrition (PN) to enteral nutrition (EN), called the transition (TN) phase, and compare the data with those analyzed using the standard “chronological age” approach to assess whether the identification of nutrient deficits and/or excesses can be improved. Methods: Analysis of a comprehensive nutrition database developed using actual nutrient intake data collected on an hourly basis in 59 preterm infants (birth weight ≤1500 g, gestation <34 weeks) over the period of PN delivery (range, 2–21 days). Results: The nutrition phase analysis approach revealed substantial macronutrient and energy deficits during the TN phase. In particular, deficits were identified as maximal during the EN‐dominant TN phase (enteral feeds ≥80 mL/kg/d) of the infant’s nutrition course. In contrast, the chronological age analysis approach did not reveal a corresponding pattern of deficit occurrence but rather intakes that approximated or exceeded recommendations. Conclusion: Actual intakes of nutrients, analyzed using a nutrition phase approach to evaluating nutrition support, enabled a more infant‐driven rather than age‐driven application of nutrition recommendations. This approach unmasked nutrient deficits occurring during the transition phase. Overcoming nutrient deficits in this nutrition phase should be prioritized to improve the nutrition management of preterm infants.