Nutrition for the low birth weight infant.

Satisfactory nutrition of the low birth weight infant concerns the nurse, obstetrician, pediatrician, and nutritionist. It may be that at present the most satisfactory feeding for the low birth weight infants is human milk. Such factors as protein quantity and quality, fat quantity and quality, immune factors, and osmolar factors may be uniquely suitable for the human infant regardless of his weight. Because of present limitations in the availability of fresh human milk, infant formulas have been adopted with reasonable success in the nutriture of the low birth weight infant. Those formulas which most nearly simulate human milk are most widely used. Broad outlines for the composition of these formulas have been given. Regardless of the availability and ease of administration of either human milk or formula, it is unlikely that any form of external nutriture can equal the advantages provided by intrauterine growth. Until better methods are devised for prolonging intrauterine growth, presently available feeding regimens should be considered experimental and in a state of flux.