Lesson 5: Preterm Infant Nutritional Management in Low-resource Settings
5.5 Summary of WHO recommendations on optimal feeding of LBW infants (stable and more than 1kg)
In 2011 the WHO published "Guidelines on optimal feeding of low birth-weight infants (LBW) in low- and middle-income countries" (WHO 2011). These guidelines make practical recommendations for the feeding of medically stable LBW infants and some VLBW infants (1000-1500g). No recommendations were made for feeding ELBW infants <1000g.
The recommendations made in the WHO guidelines are categorized as strong or weak with some recommendations dependent upon local availability of resources such as preterm infant formulas and human milk fortifiers (Table 14).
Table 14: WHO recommendations for feeding LBW in low- and middle-income countries
Source: ENeA own table based on WHO 2011