Visit our foundation to give a gift.
 View Locations Near Me
Main Campus – Hartford
Connecticut Children’s – Waterbury
Urgent Care – Farmington
Specialty Care Center – Danbury
Connecticut Children’s Surgery Center at FarmingtonÂ
Specialty Care Center – Westport
Search All LocationsÂ
Find a doctorÂ
Contact Us Â
Search SpecialtiesÂ
Find A DoctorÂ
Appointments
Locations
Amenities and Services
Who’s Who on Care Team
Getting Ready for Surgery
What to Expect—Picture Stories
Disney Initiative
Pay a Bill
Understanding the Different Fees
Pricing Transparency and Estimates
Child Life
Raytheon Technologies Family Resource Center
Family Advisory Council
Transition Programs
Advocacy
Legal Advocacy: Benefits, Education, Housing
Electronic Health Records
MyChart
Share Your Story
Pay a BillÂ
Login to MyChartÂ
Specialty Referrals
Clinical Support Services Referrals
Inpatient Referrals
ED/Transport Referrals
About the Network
Join the Network
Graduate Medical Education
Continuing Medical Education
MOC/Practice Quality Improvement
Educating Practices in the Community (EPIC)
For Nurses
Learning & Performance
Research
Resources
CLASP Co-Management
Meet our Physician Relations Team
Request Medical Records
Join our Referring Provider Advisory Board
View our Physician Callback Standards
Read & Subscribe to Medical NewsÂ
Register for Email Updates
Update Your Practice Information
Refer a Patient Â
Contact OneCall Â
Health Information For Parents
Failure to thrive refers to a child’s inability to gain weight and grow as expected. Most diagnoses of failure to thrive are made in the first few years of life.
Failure to thrive can be caused by a variety of medical conditions and social factors ranging from gastrointestinal problems and metabolic disorders to poor nutrition and emotional deprivation.
Infants or children who fail to thrive do not follow standard growth charts for height, weight, and head circumference. In addition, their weight is lower than the 3rd percentile and 20% below the ideal weight for their height. Their personal growth curve may slow down or stop altogether.
Undernourished kids can become constipated, disinterested in their surroundings, irritable, and lethargic. They might not reach developmental milestones like sitting up, walking, and talking at the usual age. Teenagers might not see the changes that puberty usually brings.
Failure to thrive is treated according to the cause. The primary goal of treatment is usually to increase the number and quality of calories consumed.
When diagnosed and treated early, infants and children who are failing to thrive can begin or continue to grow and develop normally.
All A to Z dictionary entries are regularly reviewed by KidsHealth medical experts.
Most kids grow well but some have â€failure to thrive.†This means they don’t gain weight as expected and may not grow as tall as they should.
The other kids in the class have been getting taller and developing into young adults, but your child’s growth seems to be lagging behind. Could a growth disorder be the cause?
Doctors use growth charts to figure out whether kids’ height and weight measurements are “normal” and whether they’re developing on track. Here are some facts about growth charts.
From the moment parents greet their newborn, they watch the baby’s progress eagerly. But how can they tell if their child is growing properly?
