Growth & Nutrition

A birth weight percentile shows how a baby's weight compares with other babies of the same sex born at the same stage of pregnancy. A large study found that babies born higher within the "normal" range tended to gain weight a little faster as toddlers and were somewhat more likely to be overweight…

A large UK study and a Hong Kong study tested whether support from trained volunteer peer supporters helps first-time mothers keep breastfeeding. In the UK, regular contact from pregnancy to eight weeks after birth did not change how many babies were getting breast milk. In Hong Kong, two video…

Babies born very early miss months of the special fats that the placenta normally delivers to build the brain and eyes. New research suggests that giving two of these fats together, rather than one on its own, may be gentler on the lungs and may help protect the eyes and the brain's wiring. The…

Babies born very early usually receive fat through a drip because their bodies need energy before they can feed fully by mouth. Doctors have wondered whether a higher dose of this fat might let more of the yellow jaundice pigment reach the brain. A study of 134 very premature babies in Houston…

For families of babies born early, starting solid foods can feel like one more decision with no clear answer. Two recent studies suggest that starting solids between about three and four months after the due date made no measurable difference to weight at age two, and that how parents feed changes…

Breast milk contains special sugars that babies cannot digest but that help their gut and immune system. In a small randomized study of 42 premature babies in three hospitals in Columbus, Ohio, researchers gave some babies one of those sugars, called 2′-fucosyllactose (or 2′-FL), and gave the…

Making enough milk is often harder than anyone expects when a baby is born very early. A German study of 15 neonatal units found that structured breastfeeding and pumping support helped about 11 more babies per 100 go home fed only on their mother's milk, with no sign of added harm. A review of…

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that babies need to build healthy blood and a growing brain. Before birth, a baby stores the B12 it receives from its mother, and after birth a breastfed baby continues to get B12 through breast milk. When a mother is low in B12 — because of her diet, a pregnancy illness…

For babies born between 30 and 33 weeks of pregnancy, doctors have long faced a choice: start milk feeds slowly while a drip provides nutrition, or begin full milk feeds right away. A major UK trial called FEED1 tested both approaches in over 2,000 babies and found that starting full milk feeds…

Premature and critically ill newborns often cannot eat by mouth or stomach tube right away, so hospitals feed them through a vein instead, using a specially mixed liquid nutrition called parenteral nutrition, or PN (sometimes called TPN, for "total parenteral nutrition"). A Stanford research team…

A new study of very premature babies offers a piece of reassuring news for families: giving a baby more of their mother's or donor breast milk in the very first hours of life helped babies reach full feeds faster and grow better, and it did not upset the community of helpful bacteria taking root in…

Premature babies are almost always given a daily iron supplement, because being born early means missing out on the iron a baby normally stockpiles in the last months of pregnancy — and iron is essential for healthy blood and a developing brain. But parents and doctors have wondered whether that…