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Glite Dictionary
low-birth-weight infant

low-birth-weight infant

1 3.9
A baby born weighing less than 5.5 pounds or 2,500 grams
  • noun
  • /loʊ bɜrθ weɪt ˈɪnfənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : infante de bajo peso al nacer

Examples

  • Zahr, L. K. (1993). The confidence of Latina mothers in the care of their low birth weight infants. Research in Nursing & Health, 16, 335-342.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Many studies show that low-birth-weight infants may face more health challenges than those with normal weight.

  • To improve their chances of survival, it is crucial to provide extra care for low-birth-weight infants immediately after birth.

  • The doctor explained that low-birth-weight infants often require special feeding methods to help them gain weight.

Synonyms

low-birth-weight baby
vslow-birth-weight infant
  • Specialized
1 3.9

A baby born weighing less than 5.5 pounds or 2,500 grams

is the clinical term with identical weight threshold
LBW
vslow-birth-weight infant
  • Specialized
7.1

A baby born weighing under 2,500 grams or about 5 pounds 8 ounces

is the full phrase written in words rather than the abbreviation

Surface Forms

low-birth-weight infant singular
low-birth-weight infants plural

Morphology

low-birth-weight + infant

The meaning is directly and compositionally built from the constituents: 'low' (small), 'birth' (at delivery), and 'weight' (mass) combined with 'infant' (baby), so a learner knowing those words can infer an infant born with low weight. This is a transparent, cross-linguistically common medical/compositional pattern, though the hyphenated technical term may be more formal than everyday speech.

Etymology

Low-birth-weight infant is a simple, literal name: imagine a newborn placed on a scale at birth showing a very low weight. That's why it refers to a baby 'weighing less than 5.5 pounds' at birth and who often needs special care.