Essential care of low birth weight neonates.

13 VOLUME 45__JANUARY 17, 2008 A newborn infant weighing less than 2500g at birth is termed as low birth weight (LBW) neonate. Low birth weight in a newborn infant results due to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) or prematurity. According to UNICEF, the incidence of LBW neonates is 30% in India(1). Low birth weight neonates are further classified as very low birth weight (VLBW <1500 g) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW <1000 g) infants. Majority of LBW neonates in our country weigh between 2000-2499 g. According to the National Neonatal Perinatal Database of the National Neonatology Forum, India; the incidence of LBW in tertiary care centers is 32.8 percent with only 14% neonates weighing less than 2000 g(2). We are home to eight million LBW infants born each year and around three fourths of them are delivered at full term of gestation(2,3). This shows that the major low birth weight problem in India stems from intrauterine growth restriction and not prematurity, in contrast to the western world.