[Rooming-in care of low birth weight infants]

Two groups were compared: 50 small infants were together with their mothers upon their wish, 50 were in traditional separated units, because mothers refused rooming-in care. More primiparas and non smoking women chose the rooming-in system. In this group all of them breast fed their babies at discharge from hospital. In the traditional group one baby left for adoption, another three mothers went home before the discharge of their infants. In this group significantly fewer newborns were exclusively breast fed. The rooming-in system was safe for low birth-weight babies.