Abstract Failure to thrive refers to children whose current weight or rate of weight gain is significantly lower than that of other children of similar age and gender. The difficulty lies in knowing what rate of growth is expected for any individual child, since many factors, including race and genetics, may influence growth. Failure to thrive is believed to affect up to 5 percent of the population but is most common in the first six months of a child’s life. It is commonly seen in babies born prematurely.
Most diagnoses of failure to thrive are made in infants and toddlers in the first few years of life.
An estimated 10 percent of children seen in primary care settings have symptoms of failure to thrive. The condition can appear in all socioeconomic groups, although it is seen more frequently in those families experiencing poverty. It is important to remember that some children will normally fall below the standards on growth charts. If children are full of energy, interacting normally with their parents, and show no signs of illness, then they are probably not failing to thrive and are just smaller children.
(Bremmer ; Gavin, 2004, pp. 76-93). Failure to Thrive
The first few years of a child’s life is crucial, this is the time when most children gain weight and grow much more rapidly than they will later on in life. Sometimes, however, babies and children do not meet the expected standards of growth, although most of these children are merely following a variation of the normal patterns and are not at risk, some children are actually considered to have “failure to thrive”.
Failure to thrive is defined as decelerated or arrested physical growth, that is height and weight measurements fall below the (5th) fifth percentile.
It is usually associated with poor developmental and emotional functioning. (Krugman ; Dubowitz, 2003, pp. 879-884) Failure to thrive is typically differentiated into two groups, organic and non-organic. Organic failure to thrive occurs when there is an underlying medical cause; it is caused by medical complications of premature birth or other medical illnesses that interfere with feeding and normal bonding activities between parents and infants. Nonorganic (psychosocial) failure to thrive occurs in a child who is usually younger than 2 years old and has no known medical condition that auses poor growth. (Krugman ; Dubowitz, 2003, pp. 879-884) Failure to thrive is a general consequence of many possible causes. Every case, however, has one thing in common, that is the failure to gain weight as expected, which is usually accompanied by poor height growth as well. Most failure to thrive cases is diagnose in infancy or the toddler years, a crucial period of physical and mental development. After birth, a child’s brain grows as much in the first year as it will all through the rest of the child’s life.
Poor nutrition during this critical period can have permanent negative effects, not only on a child’s physical growth, but also on their cognitive development. Psychological, social, or economic problems within the family play a role in this issue more often. Emotional or maternal deprivation is often related to the nutritional deprivation. The mother or primary caregiver may neglect proper feeding of the infant because of preoccupation with the demands or care of others, her own emotional problems, substance abuse, lack of knowledge about proper feeding, or lack of understanding of the infant’s needs.
Infants born into families with psychological, social, or economic problems are more at risk of developing nonorganic failure to thrive. Maladaptive behaviors may develop around problems establishing regular, calm feeding routines, problems of attachment between the mother and the infant, and/or problems of separation. (Slater ; G, 2002, pp. 52) The most common symptoms of failure to thrive are lack of weight gain, irritability, easily fatigues, excessive sleepiness, lack of age-appropriate social response, lack of molding to the mother’s body, does not make vocal sounds and delayed motor development.
However, each child may experience symptoms differently. (Slater ; G, 2002, pp. 68) Failure to thrive is usually discovered and diagnosed by the infant’s physician. Infants are always weighed and measured when seen by their physicians. The physician initiates a more complete evaluation when the infant’s development and functioning are found to be delayed. Blood counts, electrolyte tests and a urinalysis may also be done; these are helpful in discovering any underlying medical disorders. Swartout-Corbeil, 2005) The process of diagnosing and treating a child who fails to thrive is focusing on identifying an underlying problem. Failure to thrive has been recognized for more than a century, but it does not have a specific definition, partly because it describes a condition, not a specific disease. The condition involves children who do not receive, are unable to take in, keep in, or use the calories they need to gain weight and grow as they need to. This affects not only their biosocial development in an obvious way, but has detrimental consequences to a child’s cognitive and psychosocial development as well.
A child who has had failure to thrive may suffer from mockery, jokes and ridicule for their smaller size, they may be much slower intelligently than their peers, and can have a very difficult time making friends. (Benjamin, Reda, & Bassali, 2005) There are numerous factors that may contribute to a failure to thrive diagnosis, so a child’s treatment is mostly based on the child’s age, overall health, and medical history, there extent of child’s symptoms, the cause of the condition, the child’s tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies and expectations for the course of the condition. If there is an underlying physical cause, correcting that problem may reverse the condition. The doctor will recommend high-calorie foods. More severe cases may involve tube feedings, which can take place at home. A child with extreme failure to thrive may need hospitalization, during which he or she can be fed and monitored continuously. (Slater & G, 2002, pp. 84) Failure to thrive occurs because of social, emotional, economic, and interpersonal problems.
Initial failure to thrive caused by physical defects cannot be prevented but can often be corrected before they become a danger to the child, maternal education as well as emotional and economic support systems may help to prevent failure to thrive. Encouraging parenting education courses in high school and educational and community programs may help new parents enter parenthood with an increased knowledge of an infant’s needs. Early detection and intervention can reduce the severity of symptoms, enhance the process of normal growth and development, and improve the quality of life experienced by infants and children. Bremmer ; Gavin, 2004, pp. 76-93) References Benjamin, j. , Reda, W. , ; Bassali. (2005). Failure to thrive. Retrieved from www. emedicine. com/ped/topic738. htm Bremmer, J, ; Gavin, L. (2004). The blackwell handbook of infant development (pp. 76-93). Oxford UK: Blackwood publishing. Krugman, D. S. , ; Dubowitz, H. (2003). Failure to thrive. Slater, A. , ; G. (2002). Introduction to infant development (pp. 52, 66-84 ; 94). Oxford University. Swartout-Corbeil, D. (2002). Failure to Thrive. Retrieved from www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000991. htm
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