Somatic growth and developmental functioning in children receiving prolonged home total parenteral nutrition

Growth and psychomotor development in nine infants receiving prolonged home total parenteral nutrition (TPN) were studied longitudinally from infancy to 3 years of age. Although these children had received TPN for, on average, 79% of their lives, normalization of somatic growth occurred by 2 years of age in all of them. Three children maintained average or above average levels of developmental performance over the 3-year study period. Another four children had initially delayed development but average or above average developmental scores by 18 months. In two children the rate of development gradually slowed without obvious cause, so that by 3 years they functioned in the below average to mildly retarded range.