Lay summary
Over 3,000 babies in New Zealand are born late preterm (4-6 weeks early) every year. Late preterm babies are at greater risk of disability when they get older than babies born at term. This may be because late preterm babies frequently have drops in the amount of oxygen in their blood for the first few weeks after birth. Caffeine is an effective treatment for these drops in oxygen saturation in babies born very preterm (more than 8 weeks early) and reduces the risk of disability in very preterm babies. We have recently demonstrated that caffeine reduces drops in oxygen saturations in late preterm babies. The Latte trial is a randomised controlled trial that will randomise 526 late preterm babies to caffeine or placebo (water) from after birth until term-equivalent age. We will assess these children when they are 2.5 years old to determine if caffeine improves their brain development.