Abstract

The critical period for the growth and the neurodevelopment of a premature infant is the first few weeks of life. The nutritional requirement goes to its highest point during this period and the nutrition should be optimized to baby’s needs. We tried to find out whether the exclusive breast feeding is adequate to nourish a neonate during first few weeks of its life by assessing their heights by the age of 2-5 years.

We tested fifty children aged 2-5 years who were born prematurely within POA of 26-34 weeks and were exclusively been fed with breast milk during their neonatal period. Data were collected from the clinic records and were analyzed by Descriptive analysis and contingency tables. 74% of the sample achieved the predicted mid parental height by that age, according to the cluster analysis.

So we can conclude that the exclusive breast feeding during the neonatal period is adequate for premature babies to achieve their predicted mid parental heights by the age of 2-5 years.

Keywords: Premature babies; Exclusive breast feeding; Midparental height; Expressed breast milk