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b>Failure to thrive (FTT): Refers
to a child whose physical growth is significantly less than
that of peers.
There is no official consensus on what
constitutes failure to thrive (FTT). It usually refers to a child whose growth
is below the 3rd or 5th percentiles for their age or whose
growth has fallen off precipitously and crossed two major
growth percentiles (for example, from above the 75th
percentile to below the 25th percentile).
Failure to thrive in early infancy sometimes results in death, and in
older infancy or childhood is an important marker for underlying disease. Causes of
failure to thrive are probably many, including unrecognized food
allergies leading to refusal of food and vomiting, undiagnosed
metabolic disorders, and disease.
A specific type of failure to
thrive is sometimes seen in abandoned or institutionalized infants
who seem to "give up" and become listless and unwilling to nurse. It
is assumed that this phenomenon is emotional in nature, although
other factors may also be at work.
Treatment of failure to thrive
requires discovering and treating its underlying cause(s). In the
interim, IV feeding is required some cases, while in others
supplemental high-calorie feedings can help.
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