Failure to thrive

As failure to thrive, a delay of physical development of a child is referred, which is often associated with abnormalities in motor and psycho- social development. This occurs in pediatric clinics with a frequency of 2-25 % in the developed world, and is usually an accompanying symptom of an underlying disease.

Diagnostics

Failure to thrive is not a diagnosis but only a description. Diagnostic criteria are:

  • Below the 3 percentile for body weight and body length
  • Decreased length of target weight
  • Weight loss or lack of growth compared to preliminary investigation ( by more than 2 Hauptperzentilen )

Causes

As already mentioned, there are usually a secondary symptom of an underlying disease. Due to this there will be:

  • Inadequate food intake
  • Impaired intestinal absorption ( malabsorption )

Common underlying diseases that are associated with failure to thrive various intestinal diseases, food allergies, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, eating disorders. Also psychiatric children and their parents ( Munchausen syndrome, neglect) diseases may not be disregarded.

Therapy

The focus is on the treatment of the underlying disease. In addition, you can work with:

  • Increased food supply
  • Food enrichment
  • Drinking and tube feeding
  • Parenteral Nutrition
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