title: Neonatal nutrition: an overview.
abstract: Some everyday practices in infant feeding, such as waiting eight hours after birth, have no logical or scientific foundation and their value should be reassessed. The first feeding should always be with sterile water because it is less irritating to bronchoalveolar epithelia than are dextrose solutions. Large, low-birth-weight infants present few feeding problems but require closer supervision than normal mature neonates. Optimal feeding techniques have not yet been devised for tiny preterm or ill neonates. Application of special techniques to provide these infants with even minimal caloric requirements for several days or weeks after birth should only be attempted in centers capable of providing special, around-the-clock care and meticulous monitoring of metabolic parameters.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003679:Deglutition; D004063:Digestion; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D011817:Rabbits