Failure To Thrive is a lag in normal physical development that can be the precursor to interruptions in the developmental process and normal maturation.
Failure To Thrive is a description of a condition given to infants who are consistently less than the normal weight for their age or who do not show weight gain for unclear reasons. There are many reasons for this. Many causes involve socio-environmental factors that work together to keep the infant from having access to the nutrition the infant needs. Sometimes, medical disorders prevent a infant from growing normally. Another major cause is the child’s own intolerances.
When There Are Social And Environmental Issues
Many socio-environmental factors can be a part of Failure To Thrive. Parental neglect or abuse, parental mental health issues, and chaotic family conditions in which routine, nutritious meals are not provided, may all repress 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 growth. Inadequate food intake may reflect inadequate parenting and stimulation from the environment.
When The Causes Are Medical Disorders
Sometimes Failure To Thrive Syndrome is brought on by a medical difficulty in the infant. The difficulty can be as minor as difficulty drinking, chewing, or swallowing (as with a cleft lip or palate). Other medical problems, such as gastroesophageal reflux, esophagus narrowing, or intestinal malabsorption, may also affect a child’s ability to obtain nutrition from food. Infections, tumors, metabolic or hormonal disorders (such as diabetes or cystic fibrosis), cardiac problems, kidney diseases, genetic disorders, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are other medical reasons for Failure To Thrive.
If The Causes Are Based In Intolerances
And, sometimes child and infant Failure To Thrive is brought on by the infant’s body 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 response to this “toxic attack” could involve shutting down the infant’s normal developmental process as a temporary protective measure until the “attack” stops. And, because these environmental factors are not toxic to others, the family and the medical professionals do not know to eliminate these “toxic” things from the infant’s environment. In this case this temporary protective defensive reaction continues indefinitely. This means that the infant’s own defenses interferes with the infant’s normal development on an ongoing basis, because of the child’s intolerances.
Diagnosis For The Roots In Medical Disorders And Social And Environmental Issues
Doctors indicate that a child has Failure To Thrive when the infant’s weight or physical development is well below what it should be when compared with former measurements or standard height-weight charts. If the physical development is adequate, the infant may be small for his or her age but still growing normally.
To find out why a infant may be failing to develop normally, medical practitioners ask the 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 delay in development. The medical practitioner makes decisions about blood and urine tests and x-rays based on this evaluation. More testing is performed only if the doctor suspects an underlying disease.
Determining The Child’s Intolerances
There are some published diets (GFCF Diet and Feingold Diet) which attempt to address these intolerance issues. These diets work well for those children who are intolerant of the things which are specifically restricted by these programs. But, for the majority of children whose intolerances 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 intolerance, work with your child to determine your child’s precise list of intolerances. Those who specialize in this testing can include chiropractors, nutritionists, and other wellness practitioners trained for this type of evaluation.
Treatment and Prognosis For The Roots In Medical Disorders And Social And Environmental Issues
The medical difficulties and socio-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 access.
Treatment depends on the root of the problem. If a medical difficulty is found, specific treatment is given. 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 delivered on a regular schedule. Parents could be counseled about family interactions that are damaging to the child and about financial and social resources available to them. Severe Failure To Thrive is treated in the hospital where nutritionists, social workers, feeding specialists, psychiatrists, and other specialists team together to determine the most likely causes of the child’s Failure To Thrive and the best approach to recovery.
Treatment For The Roots In Intolerances
The interventions for the intolerances 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 process of development kicks in and development can proceed normally. With this intervention, nourishment is absorbed appropriately and growth and development starts to catch up. There are specialists in Failure To Thrive syndrome who can determine your child’s intolerances and coach you in getting your child back on track.
Summary
The socio-environmental approach for Failure To Thrive children 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 difficulties approach for Failure To Thrive infants and children assumes that nourishment is not being processed and absorbed by the infant because of some medical difficulty.
The intolerances approach for Failure To Thrive children assumes that the infant is having responses to environmental factors and these responses are shutting down the normal growth and developmental process. Our Get My Child Back On Track™ program is successful because we test each child and determine exactly what they are reacting to and we coach the child’s parents in what to do to clean their child’s environment. When they do that, the child’s developmental process re-engages.
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