What does it mean to be a skinny baby?

The full impact of the intrauterine environment on the long-term health and well-being of the growing child remains incompletely understood. However, it is increasingly clear that poor fetal growth has critical effects on both long-term medical and developmental outcomes. Infants born after intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) have increased risk for several adult-onset diseases including hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.1 In multiple studies, infants with IUGR have subtle but likely important deficits in cognitive, motor, language and neuropsychiatric outcomes. Importantly, interpretation of the literature on the effects of IUGR is hindered by variation in the definition of growth restriction and therefore wide differences in populations selected for study. Furthermore, the impact of growth on outcomes is likely a ‘U’-shaped continuum, in which poor growth is increasingly detrimental while excessive growth is also harmful. For instance, among more than a thousand Finnish children born at term and followed until...
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition - Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research