Children
As used by pediatricians, it covers poor physical growth of any cause and does not imply abnormal intellectual, social, or emotional development, although of course it can subsequently be a cause of such pathologies. The term has been used in different ways, and different objective standards have been defined. Many definitions use the 5th percentile as a cutoff.
Traditionally, causes of FTT have been divided into endogenous and exogenous causes. Initial investigation should consider physical causes, calorie intake and psychosocial assessment.
- endogenous (or "organic"): Causes are due to physical or mental issues with the child himself. It can include various inborn error of metabolism. Problems with the gastrointestinal system such as gas and acid reflux are painful conditions which may make the child unwilling to take in sufficient nutrition. Cystic fibrosis, diarrhea, liver disease, and celiac disease make it more difficult for the body to absorb nutrition. Other causes include physical deformities such as cleft palate and tongue tie. Milk allergies can cause endogenous FTT. Also the metabolism may be raised by parasites, asthma, urinary tract infections, and other fever-inducing infections, or heart disease so that it becomes difficult to get in sufficient calories to meet the higher caloric demands.
- exogenous (or "nonorganic"): Caused by caregiver's actions. Examples include physical inability to produce enough breastmilk, using only babies' cues to regulate breastfeeding so as to not offer a sufficient numbers of feeds (sleepy baby syndrome),, inability to procure formula when needed, purposely limiting total caloric intake (often for what the caregiver views as a more aesthetically pleasing child), and not offering sufficient age-appropriate solid foods for babies and toddlers over the age of six months.
- Mixed: However, to think of the terms as dichotomous can be misleading, since both endogenous and exogenous factors may co-exist. For instance a child who is not getting sufficient nutrition may act content so that caregivers do not offer feedings of sufficient frequency or volume, and a child with severe acid reflux who appears to be in pain while eating may make a caregiver hesitant to offer sufficient feedings.
Recently the term "faltering growth" has become a popular replacement for "failure to thrive", which in the minds of some represents a more euphemistic term.
Read more about this topic: Failure To Thrive
Famous quotes containing the word children:
“I don’t believe that children can develop in a healthy way unless they feel that they have value apart from anything they own or any skill that they learn. They need to feel they enhance the life of someone else, that they are needed. Who, better than parents, can let them know that?”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“We Americans are supposed to be overly concerned about the child. But actually the intelligent care of children in our society is balanced by a crass indifference to the helplessness of infancy and youth. Cruelty to children has become more widespread but less noticed in the general unrest, the constant migration, the family disintegration, and the other manifestations of a civilization that has been torn away from its original moorings.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people’s children.”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)