Probiotics Beneficial for Tiniest Preemies -
Supplements help underweight babies gain pounds, researchers find

SATURDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- Giving probiotics -- live, beneficial bacteria -- to infants whose weight at birth is extremely low helps them gain weight, says a new study.

The study included 101 extremely premature infants who weighed 2 pounds 2 ounces or less. About half of them were given two probiotics -- Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium infantis -- in tube feedings once a day until they were discharged from hospital or reached 34 weeks "postmenstrual age" (the infants' chronological age plus the time elapsed from the first day of the mothers' last menstrual period). The other infants were given no probiotics. . .

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