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Feeding Recommendations at Home for a Child After Early Hospital Discharge for Treatment of Severe Malnutrition

Description

When a child with severe malnutrition has been discharged early from the hospital there is continued need for oral nutritional support at home until the child has completely recovered. Bhan et al list recommendations for this nutritional support. The authors are from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India.


 

Recommendations:

(1) provide frequent feedings during the day (>= 5 times per day)

(2) feedings should be high in calories and protein (each 100 grams of feeding should contain 420 kiloJoules or about 100 kcal and 2-3 grams protein per kilogram body weight)

(3) give high energy snacks between meals

(4) encourage the child to eat

(5) give food in a separate bowl (this probably allows for better monitoring of what has been eaten)

(6) give electrolyte, vitamin and mineral supplements

(7) If the child is still breastfeeding, then allow nursing as often as the child wants to.

 

If the weight gain is < 10 grams per kilogram body weight per day then continued infection or inadequate intake are likely.

 


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Specialty

ICD-10