Expected and Desirable Preterm and Small Infant Growth Patterns

New Feature: Student and Trainee-Focused Podcast Interviews with Article Authors

“…The second podcast is a discussion about the critical role of properly assessing growth in premature infants conducted by graduate student Madilyn Bradley in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin with Dr. Tanis Fenton, the esteemed dietitian and epidemiologist in Alberta, Canada, and lead in developing and updating the “Fenton Preterm Growth Charts” [ 3 ] for neonatal growth used in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit settings throughout the world. Consideration of issues related to assessing preterm growth were recently published by Dr. Fenton’s group in our Journal [ 4 ].…”

Revolutionizing Neonatal Nutrition: Rethinking Definitions and Standards for Optimal Care

“…In this issue of the Journal, Fenton et al. [ 1 ] offer an exemplary review of a crucial topic, shedding light on the interplay between prenatal factors leading to preterm birth and the subsequent growth trajectories of preterm and small infants. The review endorses a definition of "abnormal growth" using a fall below 2 SDs as a referent point.…”

“…Third, regarding body composition measurements, Fenton et al. [ 1 ] raise pertinent questions about current reference standards, suggesting the need to compare infants with similar postnatal ages. Comparing measurements obtained at term-equivalent age among preterm infants with measurements obtained shortly after birth in term infants creates an artificial idea that preterm infants have more body fat than term infants.…”