Objective To investigate the effect of prophylactic administration of caffeine citrate at different times on very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants. Methods A total of 150 VLBW preterm infants were selected as the research subjects, and they were divided into early⁃stage group, middle⁃stage group, or advanced⁃stage group by the random number table method, with 50 cases in each group, with the first administration time of caffeine citrate taken as days of age ≤24 hours, 24 hours < days of age ≤3 days, and 3 days < days of age ≤7 days, respectively. All the three groups were administrated a loading dose of 20 mg/kg caffeine citrate and a maintenance dose of 7 mg/(kg·d) after 24 hours administration. Comparison of three groups of hospitalized infants regarding treatment during hospitalization in terms of time of first administration of caffeine citrate, occurrence of apnea 24 hours after caffeine citrate administration, endotracheal intubation, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, duration of non⁃invasive mechanical ventilation, oxygen inhalation duration, use of pulmonary surfactant, time from birth to achieving full enteral feeding, corrected gestational age at discharge, weight at discharge, length of hospital stay, hospitalization costs, complications during hospitalization (sepsis, intracranial hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis[NEC], bronchopulmonary dysplasia[BPD], ventilator associated pneumonia, patent ductus arteriosus, retinopathy of prematurity [ROP]), and the occurrence of adverse reactions related to caffeine citrate (tachycardia, anemia, hyperglycemia, hypocalcemia, etc.). Results (1) The time of first administration of caffeine citrate was earliest in the early⁃stage group, followed by the middle⁃stage group, and latest in the advanced⁃stage group. The early⁃stage group had a lower incidence rate of apnea 24 hours after caffeine citrate administration, shorter duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, shorter time from birth to achieving full enteral feeding, younger corrected gestational age at discharge, shorter length of hospital stay, and less hospitalization costs compared to the middle⁃stage and advanced⁃stage groups (P<0.05). (2) The early⁃stage group had lower incidence rates of intracranial hemorrhage (grade more than Ⅱ), NEC, NEC (stage more than Ⅱ), BPD, and ROP compared to the advanced⁃stage group (P<0.05). Conclusion Early administration of citrate caffeine may reduce the incidence rate of apnea and duration of invasive ventilator use in VLBW preterm infants, facilitate the early weaning of ventilators for children, decrease the occurrence risk of complications, achieve full enteral feeding earlier, shorten hospital stay, reduce the corrected gestational age at discharge and hospitalization costs, exerting a favorable safety.