Small-for-gestational-age infants need dietary quality more than quantity for their development: the role of human milk

Infants born small for gestational age (SGA) show some forms of developmental delay throughout paediatric age, and up to adolescence. The positive effect of breastfeeding on development, observed in most studies on healthy, term infants, seems to be further stressed in the group of SGA infants, particularly if breastfeeding is protracted. Besides the close maternal-infant contact of breastfeeding, the nutritional factors of human milk, above all long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid, may at least partly account for the observed association. Conclusion: SGA infants represent a high-risk group, not only for developmental delay, but also for long-term, unfavourable metabolic consequences. Breastfeeding and human milk quality together could help to prevent some of the neurological and metabolic sequelae of being born growth retarded.