Growth of "small-for-dates" babies.

The majority of "small-for-dates" (SFD) babies show signs of intrauterine undernutrition. The postnatal period is therefore an opportunity to recover any growth deficit. Growth patterns of SFD babies as a group describe upward centile crossing ("catch-up") over the first 6 months, but there is considerable diversity in growth patterns of individual babies. Some continue in approximately the same centile channel as that in which they were born; others show "catch-up". The rate of early growth is influenced by the severity of intrauterine undernutrition, but perhaps surprisingly the mode of feeding and variations in protein and calorie intake after birth have little or not effect. Whether the size attained by prenatally undernourished SFD babies represents the complete recovery of their growth deficit, or whether more rapid "catch-up" growth is even desirable for later physical size and neuropsychological development, remains to be seen.