ABSTRACT
Our guess is that there will be no major breakthroughs in neonatal paediatrics in the near future, though better intrapartum care at short gestation, and techniques for antenatal induction of surfactant or use of artificial surfactant postnatally, are likely to reduce considerably the number of infants severely affected by hyaline membrane disease.4,s More and more time is, however, likely to be spent in the care of very low birthweight infants between 500 g (the likely lower limit of viability, imposed by the stage of pulmonary development at this weight) and 800 g birthweight. Already many units are seeing a large number of such infants who have spent months in the unit, requiring artificial ventilation, parenteral nutrition and often complex abdominal and thoracic surgery. For such infants the requirements in terms of parental support and encouragement outlined in this book will be more intense and more prolonged than ever before.
