Nutritional Assessment in Preterm Infants: A Practical Approach in the NICU

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I liked your manuscript in that you brought to attention to the different methods NICUs use to assess their nutrition in preterm infants. You also brought up how important the "right" methods are. You were clear. You had many references. 

1) the whole manuscript is interesting and applies to nutrition for the preterm infant. The whole purpose of the article was to describe nutritional assessment and it did just that. That’s why I said this manuscript is good and publishable because it easily explains different ways to do a nutritional assessment and what ways are better.

2) it is very relevant. It adds to the topic as it explains well the different ways to do assessment and why some ways are better than others..so folks who want to do QI in their unit can use the article.

3) text is clear and easy to read. Publishable.

Reviewer 2 Report

This is an excellent journal article providing a practical approach to nutritional assessment in preterm infants within a neonatal intensive care unit.

You have provided  extensive quality literature  to support your writing.

Important areas of anthropometry are thoughtfully presented, including reasons for inaccurate measurement and the correct way to measure. Presentation of areas where there is limited supporting evidence for various anthropometric measurements are well described.

There is an excellent explanation of biomechanical markers with suggestions for further exploration of some markers. Identifying  markers which should not be used to monitor e.g protein status and the value of using others e.g prealbumin levels.

The conclusion reiterates the measurements required to assess nutrition in preterm infants in the NICU.