Nutritionist/ M40Re Analytics
Normal user
2 Feb 2022, 09:57
Hello all,
If a child was born preterm or low birth weight and he/she is now above 6 months, what is the best way to assess the nutrition status for this group?
Are there growth monitoring guidelines for preterms or low birth weight? If yes kindly share
( Taking into consideration, some preterms and low birth children grow and develop at par with other children born term while others on the other hand lag behind.)
Technical Director, ENN
Frequent user
2 Feb 2022, 12:53
Dear Anon
There are Intergrowth growth standards developed specifically for monitoring the grwoth of pre-term/LBW infants that are available. You can access all these resources here: https://intergrowth21.tghn.org/standards-tools/
Best regards, Marie
Nutritionist/ M40Re Analytics
Normal user
2 Feb 2022, 15:52
Thanks a lot Marie for your response..This will be very helpful. Does this apply while conducting SMART Surveys for this group ( children born preterms and low birth weight?
Technical Director, ENN
Frequent user
3 Feb 2022, 09:00
Dear Anon, SMART surveys and general growth monitoring for infants usually are based on the WHO 2006 Growth Standards that do not account for prematurity/LBW. The Intergrowth Standards require you to know gestational age which is not feasible in many settings especially for population surveys. In my experience the Intergrowth standards are used more at facilities where there is capacity to know gestational age.