Failure To Thrive

Abstract Inadequate growth of infants and young children has been traditionally called failure to thrive (FTT). Diagnostic criteria for FTT distinguish infants and children with chronic inadequate growth (weight for age (5th percentile) from those in whom there is a recognizable retardation of growth velocity (usually a shift of two or more major growth percentiles). The child’s inability to consume sufficient nutrients to sustain adequate growth may stem from a variety of diseases (organic FTT or OFTT), environmental causes (nonorganic FTT or NOFTT), or from a combination of both. Growth failure affects 10% to 30% of children in indigent populations; FTT accounts for 1% to 5% of hospital admissions of children younger than 2 years of age in the United States. Inadequate growth has been closely linked with behavioral, developmental, and intellectual problems that persist even after growth velocity resumes.