Objective To study the role of early intravenous nutrition given aggressively combined with early minimal feeding on very low birth weight infants (VLBWI),and to evaluate the clinical value of intestinal barrier protein and MicroRNA.Methods All of 62 cases of VLBWI admitted in NICU,the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Nantong Affiliated to Nantong University from January 2006 to June 2014 were recruited.Sixty-two VLBWI were randomly divided into group A and group B.Thirty infants in group A were exposed to conventional intravenous nutrition.Thirty-two infants in group B were treated with early intravenous nutrition aggressively combined with early minimal feeding.The time of birth weight recovery,days with intravenous nutrition,hospital stay and complications were recorded.The liver and kidney functions,electrolytes,blood gas analysis were monitored.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent method was used to detect intestinal fatty acid binding protein (Ⅰ-FABP),an intestinal barrier protein in plasma.Infection related MicroRNA155 was detected with fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Results Group B was superior to group A in weight loss after birth [(13.70 ± 3.10) ％ vs (5.46 ± 2.64) ％,P ＜ 0.05],shorter recovery time of body weight [(12.20 ± 3.38) d vs (6.82 ± 3.20) d,P ＜ 0.05],fewer days with intravenous nutrition [(29.62 ± 4.16) d vs (20.80 ± 3.20) d,P ＜ 0.05] and shorter hospital stays [(44.60 ± 6.32) d vs (28.91 ± 4.36) d,P ＜ 0.05].Compared with group A,the infants in group B had less complications,including hyperbilirubinemia (31.2％ vs 56.7％),extrauterine growth retardation (34.3％ vs 73.3％),cholestasis (6.2％ vs 23.3％),feeding intolerance (15.6％ vs 53.3％) and necrotizing enterocolitis (0 vs 16.7％) (all P ＜ 0.05).Although Ⅰ-FABP had a higher plasma concentration in group A than that of group B [(9.083 ± 1.059) μg/L vs (7.563 ± 0.739) μg/L],the difference was not significant (t =1.190,P =0.076 4).However,the plasma levels of Ⅰ-FABP in infants with necrotizing enterocolitis were significantly higher than those of group B [(19.500 ± 3.510) μg/L vs (7.563 ±0.739) μg/L,t =5.231,P =0.035 0].The expression of MicroRNA155 in group A was markedly higher than that of group B (2-△△ct were 0.81 ± 0.12 and 0.24 ± 0.08,respectively,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Giving aggressive intravenous nutrition early combined with early minimal feeding was safety and effective to VLBWI,which was of benefit to their growth and development,reducing complications and shorting hospital stays.The detection of intestinal barrier protein Ⅰ-FABP and MicroRNA155 is useful for monitoring feeding complications of VLBWI.