What you need to know about failure to thrive
Photo: Sasha Emmons
Riley* was a textbook healthy baby. He was content and easygoing, and throughout most of his first year, was trending between the 90th and 95th percentiles for growth. But his mom, Kate Lefler*, knew something wasn?t right. Because she was having trouble with breastfeeding, she switched Riley to formula at four months. He became fussy, suffered from constipation and vomiting, and developed severe eczema. She changed brands several times to no avail, and as he got older she started him on solid foods, but by the time his 12-month checkup rolled around, he hadn?t grown in three months. His parents were told he had failure to thrive (FTT).
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Failure to thrive usually affects kids two and under, and is used to describe those who are considerably small for their age. To determine if a baby has FTT, doctors measure and track her weight, height and head circumference on a growth chart at regular checkups. There is cause for concern if the baby?s weight is below the third percentile for his age and gender, if there?s a decrease in the rate of weight gain or if the child?s weight is low in comparison to his height. Riley?s doctor was worried that his growth had come to such a sudden stop.
?Failure to thrive is not a...
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