Severe Acute Malnutrition in Very Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants

Abstract

Malnutrition in preterm low birth weight infants has adverse long-term metabolic, growth, and neurodevelopmental effects. In the past 3 decades, parenteral nutrition, enriched preterm formula, and fortification of human milk have been used to alleviate these adverse effects. Unfortified human breast milk does not provide sufficient nutrients for the growth and development of preterm infants at the volumes recommended; however, it is usually the only source of nutrition available for such infants in low-resource countries. Many newborns, including very low birth weight infants, are surviving in these countries because of concerted efforts to achieve the fourth millennium development goal. These efforts have not addressed the nutrition needs of sick preterm very low birth weight infants. The authors report 3 cases of severe acute malnutrition in very low birth weight newborns and suggest possible interventions.