Nutrition

From the beginning of the first publications on parenteral nutrition in the late 1960s, the nutrition of surgical infants and older children has significantly improved. Many of the nutritional challenges in paediatrics are related to the first year of life, and this is a major focus of this chapter, although older children will also be considered. The newborn infant is in a ‘critical epoch’ of development, not only for the organism as a whole but also for the individual organs and, most significantly, for the brain. Adequate nutrition in the neonatal period is necessary to avoid the adverse effects of malnutrition on morbidity and mortality and to minimise the future menace of stunted neurological and physical development.