This review deals with early neonatal medicine and its rapid development as a medical specialty, starting with the birth of neonatology in the early 19th century. Shaffer first used the term neonatology in 1963 to cover neonatal disorders and their treatment. Between the early 19th century and the 1950s, neonatal care was ensured by obstetricians, whose main goal was to reduce neonatal mortality. After the second world war, and especially the 1960s, the development of neonatal physiology and pathophysiology provided insights into neonatal diseases and their treatment, including respiratory distress, jaundice, malnutrition, and prevention of respiratory distress and brain complications, etc. Currently, neonatal mortality, regardless of birth weight, is below 2/1000, and the survival rate of premature infants, regardless of gestational age and birth weight, exceeds 85%. This represents a resounding success, despite the associated costs, ethical issues, and inevitable morbidity.