Pediatric Nutrition Handbook: An Algorithmic Approach

Each year, millions of children throughout the world are subjected to the life -
threatening ravages of malnutrition. The nutritional issues that children face
today have radically changed as knowledge on disease processes as well as their
treatments have improved.
We know the effect of nutrition is profound. Good nutrition not only assures
proper growth and development, but it also enables each organ system to do
its job properly. In ill children, nutrition is paramount, affecting both morbidity
and mortality. As medicine has specialized, the nutritional care of children has
also become increasingly specialized. This handbook serves as a broad guide
to the nutritional care for the developing infant and child as well as for children
with specialized medical needs.
This handbook is the fruition of a long - held dream by many at Seattle
Children ’ s Hospital to standardize the nutritional care of our patients.
Collectively, it represents years of experience and specialized knowledge in the
nutritional assessment and care of infants, children, and teens.
We would like to recognize our contributors for their time and effort.
Additional thanks to the many reviewers who both recommended content and
analyzed all the chapters. Our hope is that all health care providers –residents,
nurses, dietitians, and other clinicians –fi nd the handbook helpful. We welcome
feedback to improve future publications.