Weights of Children with Major Congenital Abnormalities of the Intestinal Tract.

It is widely held amongst paediatric surgeons that babies born with major congenital abnormalities remain srnall even after successful surgical treatment. Forshall (1960) showed that many children with certain deformities achieve normal weight after correction; but no systematic study of the pattern of their long-term development appears to have been carried out. The purpose of this investigation was to review the weight gain of 160 children whose congenital abnormalities had been successfully treated by operation in the neonatal period. The conditions selected for review were: oesophageal atresia and tracheo-oesophageal fistula, duodenal atresia, jejunal and ileal atresia, ano-rectal agenesis and exomphalos. The weight of many children was recorded at regular follow-up visits or on readmission for aftertreatment or for some other illness; in the remainder the mothers were asked to weigh the children