Perinatal and pediatric nutrition.

Nutritional deficiencies develop rapidly in the very low birth weight infants because of a lack of third-trimester accumulation of fat, minerals, trace elements, and fat-soluble vitamins. Symptomatic zinc deficiency and hypernatremic dehydration may occur unexpectedly in the wholly breast-fed full-term or premature infant, and nutritional adequacy should be carefully monitored even in breast-fed full-term infants.