Introduction:: Knemometry is a useful tool in assessing short term growth in premature infants. By daily measurements of lower leg length, day by day growth can be detected. In the following study, short term growth in formula fed premature infants was compared to that of breast milk fed infants.

Materials and Methods: A newly developed and validated knemometer was used to measure 19 healthy, premature infants daily(Table 1 shows group 1: breast milk fed infants, and group 2: formula fed infants; data are mean ± SD).

Table 1
Full size table

Results: The analysis of the 19 growth curves showed the following:

  1. 1

    None of the growth curves showed a solely linear pattern.

  2. 2

    None of the individual growth curves cut other growth curves, indicating that none of the infants showed catch-up or protracted growth.

  3. 3

    Lower leg length growth curves showed either pulsatility in form of“mini growth spurts” of 5 ± 1.7 days or longer growth periods of 20 ± 11 days.

  4. 4

    Growth velocity and pattern did not differ between the two groups.

Conclusion: Short term growth does not differ between formula fed and breast milk fed premature infants.