Your Introduction To Failure To Thrive In Children

Failure To Thrive is a blockage in normal increases in height and weight that can lead to interruptions in the normal development and normal maturation.

Failure To Thrive is a diagnosis given to babies who are consistently less than the normal weight for their age or who do not show weight gain for unclear reasons. There could be many causes. Many reasons for this involve social and environmental factors that work together to keep the infant from getting the nutrition the infant needs. Often, medical conditions prevent a infant from developing normally. Another important contributing factor is the child's own intolerances and sensitivities.

If There Are Environmental And Social Causes

Many social and environmental factors can be responsible for Failure To Thrive. Parental neglect or abuse, parental emotional health difficulties, and disordered family conditions in which routine, nutritious meals are not provided, may all interfere with a child's appetite and food intake. The amount of money a family makes available for food and the nutritional value of the food they buy also affects normal development. Inadequate food intake may be a sign of inadequate parenting and environmental stimulation.

If The Problems Are Medical Difficulties

Sometimes Failure To Thrive Syndrome is caused by a medical problem in the infant. The problem can be as minor as difficulty drinking, chewing, or swallowing (as with a cleft lip or cleft palate). Medical issues, such as acid reflux, narrowing of the esophagus, or intestinal malabsorption, may also affect a child's ability to obtain nutrition from food. And, other medical problems such as infections, tumors, hormonal or metabolic disorders (such as diabetes or cystic fibrosis), heart disease, kidney diseases, genetic disorders, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are other medical reasons for Failure To Thrive.

If The Problems Are Based In Intolerances

And, sometimes child and infant Failure To Thrive is caused by the infant's defenses responding to normal environmental factors as if those normal things were toxic. This is a sensitivity to some environmental factors which the child's body thinks is toxic.

This reaction to this "toxic attack" could include shutting down the infant's normal developmental process as a temporary protective tactic until the "attack" goes away. And, because these environmental factors are not toxic to others, the family and the medical professionals do not know to eliminate these "toxic" factors from the infant's environment. In this case this temporary protective defensive reaction continues indefinitely. This means that the infant's own defenses interrupts the infant's normal development on an ongoing basis, because of the child's intolerances and sensitivities.

Diagnosis For The Causes In Medical Difficulties And Environmental And Social Causes

Doctors diagnose Failure To Thrive when a infant's weight or physical development is much less than what it should be when compared with former measurements or standard age-height-weight charts. If the physical development is adequate, the infant may be small but still growing normally.

To determine why a infant may be failing to grow normally, doctors ask parents specific questions about feeding, bowel habits, social, emotional, and financial stability of the family, which might affect the infant's access to food, and illnesses that the infant has had or that run in the family. The medical practitioner examines the infant, looking for signals that may explain the infant's growth delay. The medical practitioner makes decisions about blood and urine tests and x-rays based on this evaluation. Additional examinations are performed only if the doctor suspects an underlying medical condition.

Determining The Child's Intolerances

There are some published diets (GFCF Diet and Feingold Diet) which attempt to address these sensitivity and intolerance issues. These diets work well for those children who are sensitive to the things which are specifically restricted by these programs. But, for the majority of children whose intolerances and sensitivities are affecting their growth and development, these diets are incomplete and not specifically tailored for them.

It is best to have a specialist, who knows how to perform this specific test for sensitivity and intolerance, work with your child to determine your child's precise list of intolerances and sensitivities. Those who perform this kind oftesting can include chiropractors, some nutritionists, and other wellness practitioners trained for this type of evaluation.

Treatment and Prognosis For The Causes In Medical Difficulties And Environmental And Social Causes

The medical disorders and social and environmental roots approach assumes there is something wrong with the infant's body or the child's social environment. These interventions are focused on a problem in the infant's nutritional processing or nutritional access.

Treatment intervention depends on the root of the problem. If a medical disorder is found, specific interventions are performed. Otherwise, treatment depends on how far below normal the infant's weight is. Mild to moderate Failure To Thrive is treated with high-calorie nutritious feedings provided on a regular schedule. Parents could be counseled about family interactions that are damaging to the child and about social and financial resources available to them. Severe Failure To Thrive is treated in the hospital where social workers, nutritionists, feeding specialists, psychiatrists, and other specialists work together to determine the most likely causes of the child's Failure To Thrive and the best approach to recovery.

Treatment For The Causes In Intolerances

The interventions for the intolerances and sensitivities approach is to determine which environmental factors the infant is responding to and eliminates those from the infant's environment. When the infant is no longer reacting to those things in the environment, the normal developmental process re-engages and growth and development can proceed normally. With this intervention, nourishment is absorbed and development and growth starts to catch up. There are specialists in Failure To Thrive syndrome who can determine your child's intolerances and sensitivities and coach you in getting your child back on track.

Summary

The social and environmental approach assumes that something is wrong in the infant's social environment in such a way that nourishment is not available or is not accepted by the infant.

The medical disorders approach for Failure To Thrive infants and children assumes that nourishment is not being processed and absorbed by the infant because of some medical disorder.

The intolerances and sensitivities approach for Failure To Thrive children assumes that the infant is having defensive responses to environmental factors and these defensive responses are shutting down the normal growth and developmental process.