POOR postnatal growth of preterm neonates

continues to be a major problem. Intrauterine growth retardation is an additional risk factor in the growth of preterm infants. Breast milk is considered as the best food for the neonates due to its several nutritional and immunologic advantages but this has been well established that(1,2) human milk is an inadequate source of protein and minerals for growing premature babies. Very low birth weight babies need higher calories, protein and minerals to achieve adequate catch up growth(3). The need is even higher in growth retarded babies. There are several studies(4-6) showing improved growth and biochemical parameters in the preterm babies who were fed fortified human milk. However, there is no study to assess the effect of fortification on growth of small for gestation babies. In developing countries the incidence of growth retardation is high(7) and with better nutrition a good catch up growth can be expected. The aim of this study was to compare the growth between fortified and unfortified human milk fed preterm and growth retarded neonates.