Every year, more than 20 million infants are born weighing less than 2.5kg – over 96% of them in developing countries. These low-birth-weight (LBW) infants are at increased risk of early growth retardation, infectious disease, developmental delay and death during infancy and childhood.

Most LBW is a consequence of preterm birth, small size for gestational age, or both.

Interventions to improve the feeding of LBW infants are likely to improve the immediate and longer-term health and well-being of the individual infant and have a significant impact on neonatal and infant mortality levels in the population.

WHO recommends that LBW infants should be fed mother's own milk. If these infants cannot be fed mother's own milk, they should be fed donor human milk (in settings where safe and affordable milk banking facilities are available or can be set up) or standard infant formula.

LBW infants are often small for their age when they are discharged from hospital. It has been suggested that feeding these infants with a nutrient-enriched formula rather than standard term formula might facilitate "catch-up" growth and improve development; however there is no consistent evidence to suggest that this is the case. Furthermore, the cost of nutrient-enriched infant formula is high and its availability in resource-limited settings is low.