The articles in the neonatal portion of this issue focus on several of the many issues in neonatal care. Breast-feeding the preterm infants can be a challenge for parents and staff. Neonatal intensive care and special care unit staff support breast-feeding in preterm infants, but infants may not be exclusively feeding at the breast by the time of discharge. Wooldridge and Hall extend our knowledge in this area by describing a study that explored the transition in a group of preterm infants who were breast-feeding at the breast and taking breast milk by bottle at the time of hospital discharge to exclusive breast-feeding in the first 4 weeks at home. They examined factors that might influence this transition, including single born versus twin infants and the influence of factors such as maternal feelings of competence and confidence.

Kilian examines a pathophysiologic problem in infants, that of hypertension. She describes common causes of hypertension in term and preterm infants as well as issues in documenting blood pressure in the neonate. Kilian then discusses the pharmacological management of neonatal hypertension, examining categories of drugs and examples within each category commonly used in the neonatal period.

Lundqvist, Nilstun, and Dykes discuss the views of Muslim women in relationship to neonatal end-of-life care. They describe the findings of a study that involved interviewing immigrant women of Muslim background who were living in Sweden. Their study focused on issues during 3 periods: before birth if there was evidence of fetal impairment, care after birth in the neonatal intensive care unit while the infant was critically ill and dying, and care after the death of the infant. These authors summarize areas of special importance to these women from the perspective of their religious and cultural beliefs.