The infant feeding practices of 77 very low birthweight (VLBW) survivors with birthweights under 1500 g were studied. 58 (75%) infants received fresh expressed breastmilk from their own mothers of whom 42 were successfully breastfed at a medium postconceptual age of 36 weeks. Overall incidence of breastfeeding in the VLBW population was 44% at 3 months and 23% at 6 months. The postnatal ages at which breastfeeding stopped ranged from 2-28 months (median 4 months). No significant differences in perinatal factors were found between the breastmilk and milk formula groups. There were significantly more mothers in the breastmilk group who were given advice and encouragement during their pregnancies on breastfeeding and who had planned in the antenatal period to breastfeed their infants. The most common reasons given for deciding against providing breastmilk were related to extreme prematurity of the infant. Nursery weight gain of infants fed breastmilk and milk formula were similar. Necrotizing enterocolitis occurred significantly less frequently in the breastmilk group. The study suggested that the special attention and positive encouragement given to parents of VLBW infants had contributed to the successful establishment and continuation of a feeding regime utilizing fresh breastmilk from the infants own mother which is believed to have immunological psychological and nutritional benefits in this high-risk infant population. (authors)