Recommendations for the establishment and operation of a donor human milk bank.

In Europe, an increasing number of human milk banks (HMBs) collect donor human milk to feed preterm infants when their mother's milk is not available or not enough. Moreover, donor milk is a bridge to breastfeeding, with positive clinical and psychological advantages for both mother and infant. Italy, with 41 HMBs actively operating in 2022, has the highest number of HMBs in Europe.

Eating disorders and psychopathological traits in obese preadolescents and adolescents.

Objective: to investigate the presence of eating disorders (ED) and psychopathological traits in obese preadolescents and adolescents compared to normal-weight peers.

Design: Overweight/obese patients aged 11 to 14 y and normal-weight peers' data collected by means of self-report questionnaires administered to parents and children.

Setting: Clinical Nutrition Units in the Municipalities of Rome, Naples, Gallipoli and Atri, Italy.

Survey of Italian human milk banks.

Background: At present, the Italian Association of Donor Human Milk Banks (Associazione Italiana Banche del Latte Umano Donato, AIBLUD) consists of 31 milk banks, whose management is based on Italian Guidelines. In 2013, AIBLUD performed a systematic survey to collect data on the activities of banks operating in Italy in the years previous to this date.

Objective: The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the operational procedures of Italian Human Milk Banks in order to identify both areas of strength and room for improvement.

Focus on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in children and adolescents.

The European Society of Hypertension has recently published its recommendations on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure in children and adolescents. Taking this contribution as a starting point the Study Group of Hypertension of the Italian Society of Pediatrics together with the Italian Society of Hypertension has conducted a reappraisal of the most recent literature on this subject. The present review does not claim to be an exhaustive description of hypertension in the pediatric population but intends to provide Pediatricians with practical and updated indications in order to guide them in this often unappreciated problem.

Malnutrition and dysfunctional mother-child feeding interactions: clinical assessment and research implications.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of age and the presence of feeding pathologies on the relational modes during meals in a sample of mother-child pairs (n = 333), comparing groups of children in the first three years of life with normal development (ND-group, n = 211) and clinical groups of children who presented a diagnosis of feeding disorder and failure to thrive (FD-group, n = 122), and to show an association between specific symptomatic characteristics of the mother, of the child and the dysfunctional modes of their relationship during meals in a subgroup of mother-child pairs (n = 50), selected at random from the total clinical sample and paired with a control group chosen for this study.

Methods: All mother-child pairs in the sample were observed in twenty-minute video-recordings during a meal, using the procedure of the Feeding Scale in the Italian version. A subgroup of mothers, selected at random from the total clinical sample, and paired with a control group, were given two self-reporting instruments for the evaluation of their psychological symptom status: the Eating Attitude Test and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, as well as two instruments for the evaluation of the infant temperament and emotional/behavioral functioning: the Baby and Toddler Behavior Questionnaires (from 1 to 18 months) and the Child Behavior Checklist 1-1/2--5 (from 18 to 36 months).

Nutrient intake of Italian women during lactation.

Objectives: Very few data have been published concerning the actual energy and nutrient intakes of lactating women; in particular there have been no reports concerning Italian women. We report our findings on the energy and macronutrient intakes of a group of exclusively breast-feeding Italian women. Differences between the actual intakes and Italian Recommended Dietary Allowances are also discussed.