ABSTRACT
Over the past decades there has been a dramatic increase in the survival of preterm infants, especially very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants. Prenatal steroids to enhance pulmonary maturation, the use of exogenous surfactant for the treatment of the respiratory distress syndrome, and better prenatal obstetric and postnatal neonatal intensive care have all played a major role in improving survival rate in these infants.1-3
With the major advances in life-support measures, nutrition has become one the most debated issues in the care of low-birth-weight infants; in this regard, several reports have shown the important effect of nutrition during the first period of life on early and late outcome.4
