Background Preterm babies are at risk of folic acid deficiency, those born <2 kg being most at risk. This may have implications for growth and haematological outcomes however this is based on studies published over 20 years ago.1 2 Recommendations are all preterm babies receive 30–40 μg/kg/day.3 Babies on unfortified breast milk will fall well below recommendations.

There is no information on current folic acid supplementation practices in the UK and the Ireland.

Method An email based survey was carried out among 27 dietitians working on neonatal units across the UK and in the Ireland.

Results See table 1 for folic acid supplementation practices and their frequency.

Discussion This survey shows a wide discrepancy in folic acid supplementation practices across the UK and Ireland. In view of the lack of published data in this area more work is needed to establish if the large number of babies not receiving adequate folic acid supplementation are being put at risk.