Nursery management, including the necessity of high cost nursery diets, and compensatory growth is debated in multiple papers. This paper argues that the majority of previous studies on compensatory growth lack sensitivity or replications, and that pigs on restricted energy or nutrient diets in nursery remain below the weight of unrestricted pigs. Regardless if compensatory growth occurs, it is still important to optimize health and performance post-weaning. One way is to increase feed intake, or decrease the time until feed intake, for newly weaned pigs. Some ways to stimulate feed intake include providing creep feed, feeding complex, palatable starter diets, providing sufficient feed space and water supply, a weaning room temperature of 28ºC (to start), increased lighting period, and minimizing additional stress. The nutrient levels of a starter diet are less important than the amount eaten, but nutrient utilization can be improved by using digestible ingredients, or additions like phytase. Good nursery management can help optimize future performance, and a proper starter diet is one of the major ways to do so.