Three-year growth and developmental follow-up of very low birth weight infants fed own mother's milk, a premature infant formula, or one of two standard formulas.
A cohort of 40 very low birth weight (VLBW) infants was followed until they reached 3 years of age. These infants were originally part of a feeding trial in the early postnatal period whereby they were fed either their own mother's milk, a standard whey-predominant formula, a casein-predominant formula, or a premature formula. Those fed the latter formula grew significantly better while in the hospital and had no biochemical derangements. At 3 years of age, there were no significant intergroup differences with respect to growth or development. There was a positive correlation between head growth in hospital and weight at 3 years, but there were no other significant relationships between early postnatal growth and growth parameters at 3 years. Socioeconomic status was the only predictor of developmental scores at 3 years of age. No adverse effects from early metabolic acidosis or alterations of amino acid profiles during the neonatal period were detectable at 3 years of age. However, the small sample size of this study may have missed true differences in outcome measures at 3 years, and larger studies are required to examine these questions further.
Cooper
P A
PA
Department of Paediatrics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Rothberg
A D
AD
Davies
V A
VA
Horn
J
J
Vogelman
L
L
D015331:Cohort Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008895:Milk, Human; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors