Failure to Thrive: A Dilemma for the Community Health Nurse

Feeding problems in infancy and early childhood: evolutionary concept analysis

“…). Themes of mother blame or caregiver abuse continued in the dichotomous conceptualization of FTT developed in the 1970s (Bray ) that assumed two causes for growth failure (Cupoli et al . ).…”

“…Skuse observed that parents tried harder to feed a child or infant who was reluctant to eat because of perceived fault for the growth failure of their child. Bray, a community health nurse, (Bray ) noted stigma of NOFTT made parents feel defensive and set providers on a path to rule out neglect or abuse, wasting efforts and possibly missing medical causes.…”

“…, Bryant‐Waugh , Lukens & Silverman ). The healthcare system cannot be faulted for this directly, as the definition of pediatric feeding problems has historically been fodder for disciplinary turf wars (Linscheid ) and often was conflated with symptoms of abuse (Bray , Batchelor ). Lack of a shared conceptualization makes the significance of pediatric feeding problems difficult to establish for those clinically unfamiliar with the problem.…”

The Use of Human Ecology and Epidemiology in Nonorganic Failure to Thrive

“…It is characterized by complications in an infant's development combined with a highly stressed family (Dougherty, Saxe, Cross, & Silverman, 1987). Along with growth failure, developmental delay is often seen in the child with NOFTT (Bray, Brosnan, & Erkel, 1989;Castiglia, 1988;Klein, 1990;Showers, Mandelkorn, Coury, & McCleery, 1986). The long-term effects of NOFTT include continued slow growth (Mitchell, Gorrell, & Greenberg, 1980), poor learning abilities and abnormal personality development (Hufton & Oates, 1977;Oates, Peacock, & Forrest, 1985), and cognitive deficits (Drotar et al, 1980).…”