Arch Dis Child 2000;82:5-9 ( January )

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Identification and management of failure to thrive: a community perspective

Charlotte M Wright

Community Child Health Unit, Donald Court House, 13 Walker Terrace, Gateshead NE8 3EB, UK

Correspondence to: Dr Wright

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

The term failure to thrive (FTT) can imply very different conditions, depending on the context. To a general paediatrician, it might conjure up a respectably clad child, sitting on an anxious mother's lap as you study growth charts and test results in the hope of inspiration. To a social worker it might imply a wasted, miserable child found in a cold, dirty house. These differing images reflect not just the wide range of children who might receive the label "failure to thrive", but also a diversity of ideas about what FTT is and how it should be managed. The term was first coined to describe a syndrome of delayed growth and development also called the "maternal deprivation syndrome".¹ Although it is now accepted that FTT has a predominantly nutritional cause,² the implication of an association with emotional and physical deprivation persists. However, all the early studies were of highly selected . . . [Full text of this article]

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Growth monitoring

David M B Hall; and LINDA D VOSS
Arch. Dis. Child. 2000 82: 10-15. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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