Failure to thrive

Failure to thrive is a medical term which denotes poor weight gain and physical growth failure over an extended period of time in infancy. Often abbreviated FTT, the term has been in medical use for over a century. As used by pediatricians, it covers poor physical growth of any cause and does not imply abnormal intellectual, social, or emotional development.

Causes of failure to thrive

Traditionally, causes of FTT have been divided into endogenous (arising from disease within the infant) and exogenous (arising from environmental factors). To think of the terms as dichotomous is misleading, since both endogenous and exogenous factors commonly co-exist. A child with a disease or disability may be more vulnerable to poor care by a mother with marginal competence or resources.

Wider lay use

Like many older medical terms, FTT has acquired some lay connotations which are wider and more pejorative than its strict medical meaning.