Douglas Drenckpohl
Working with an infant or child who has intestinal failure (IF) can be a real challenge for nutritional professionals. It truly does take a village to help care for these kids suffering from IF have an improved quality of life. Being independent of parental nutrition (PN) is the long-term goal as well as consuming a variety of foods.
In recent years, clinical research has shown prescribing Omega 3-based intravenous fat emulsions IVFE) along with PN, slows down the progression and even reverses the potentially fatal complication of cholestatic jaundice. But using these types of IVFE is still only a temporary remedy. The eventual goal is to transition these children to a 100% enteral diet either with all real food, an amino acid based formula, or a combination of both.