Prospective study of antecedents for nonorganic failure to thrive

William A. Altemeier; Susan M. O'Connor; Kathryn B. Sherrod; Peter M. Vietze

doi:10.1016/S0022-3476(85)80657-0

Prospective study of antecedents for nonorganic failure to thrive

William A. Altemeier
, Susan M. O'Connor
, Kathryn B. Sherrod
, Peter M. Vietze

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

78 Scopus citations

Abstract

The cause of nonorganic failure to thrive (NFT) was studied prospectively in 274 low-income pregnant mothers by interviewing them for characteristics that retrospective studies indicated were associated with child maltreatment. After delivery, medical charts of mothers and infants were reviewed for complications of pregnancy, delivery, and postdelivery hospitalization, and the infants were observed for growth failure. The characteristics of 15 families with infants who developed NFT were compared with those of 86 selected randomly from the remaining families. Interview results suggest that NFT correlates significantly with aberrant nurture during the mother's childhood and with conflicts between the parents of the infants. Perinatal events correlating significantly with NFT include complications of pregnancy, short gestation, and residual minor medical problems at discharge from the nursery. We speculate that these events predispose to NFT by disturbing the development of the mother-infant relationship.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	360-365
Number of pages	6
Journal	The Journal of Pediatrics
Volume	106
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3476(85)80657-0
State	Published - Mar 1985

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title = "Prospective study of antecedents for nonorganic failure to thrive",

abstract = "The cause of nonorganic failure to thrive (NFT) was studied prospectively in 274 low-income pregnant mothers by interviewing them for characteristics that retrospective studies indicated were associated with child maltreatment. After delivery, medical charts of mothers and infants were reviewed for complications of pregnancy, delivery, and postdelivery hospitalization, and the infants were observed for growth failure. The characteristics of 15 families with infants who developed NFT were compared with those of 86 selected randomly from the remaining families. Interview results suggest that NFT correlates significantly with aberrant nurture during the mother's childhood and with conflicts between the parents of the infants. Perinatal events correlating significantly with NFT include complications of pregnancy, short gestation, and residual minor medical problems at discharge from the nursery. We speculate that these events predispose to NFT by disturbing the development of the mother-infant relationship.",

author = "Altemeier, \{William A.\} and O'Connor, \{Susan M.\} and Sherrod, \{Kathryn B.\} and Vietze, \{Peter M.\}",

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AU - Altemeier, William A.

AU - O'Connor, Susan M.

AU - Sherrod, Kathryn B.

AU - Vietze, Peter M.

PY - 1985/3

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N2 - The cause of nonorganic failure to thrive (NFT) was studied prospectively in 274 low-income pregnant mothers by interviewing them for characteristics that retrospective studies indicated were associated with child maltreatment. After delivery, medical charts of mothers and infants were reviewed for complications of pregnancy, delivery, and postdelivery hospitalization, and the infants were observed for growth failure. The characteristics of 15 families with infants who developed NFT were compared with those of 86 selected randomly from the remaining families. Interview results suggest that NFT correlates significantly with aberrant nurture during the mother's childhood and with conflicts between the parents of the infants. Perinatal events correlating significantly with NFT include complications of pregnancy, short gestation, and residual minor medical problems at discharge from the nursery. We speculate that these events predispose to NFT by disturbing the development of the mother-infant relationship.

AB - The cause of nonorganic failure to thrive (NFT) was studied prospectively in 274 low-income pregnant mothers by interviewing them for characteristics that retrospective studies indicated were associated with child maltreatment. After delivery, medical charts of mothers and infants were reviewed for complications of pregnancy, delivery, and postdelivery hospitalization, and the infants were observed for growth failure. The characteristics of 15 families with infants who developed NFT were compared with those of 86 selected randomly from the remaining families. Interview results suggest that NFT correlates significantly with aberrant nurture during the mother's childhood and with conflicts between the parents of the infants. Perinatal events correlating significantly with NFT include complications of pregnancy, short gestation, and residual minor medical problems at discharge from the nursery. We speculate that these events predispose to NFT by disturbing the development of the mother-infant relationship.

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Prospective study of antecedents for nonorganic failure to thrive

Abstract

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