Faliure to Thrive, Please share this with your paed :)

Hi all

I have been talking with a few other mums with FTT bubs and we have decided that term has to go! to do this we all need to make an effort and soon mums with bubs that struggle to gain weight won't feel like faliures.

We have come up with Skinny Baby Syndrome. How much nicer is that! I am sure that FTT could lead to mums getting PND coz it makes them feel like it's their fault. we work so hard to make our kids gain weight and don't deserve to feel like that. Alan has seen this and liked it. SBS would of course have the same meaning as FTT but be easier for us mums to handle.

If u like it please pass it on coz it is not fair for us to feel like faliures!

often they r not thriving at all. try 2 think of other thing 2 replace syndrome! thanks 4 ur input!

I think to say Skinny Baby Syndrome is great. My daughter went through FTT when she was 2 1/2 - 3, when we found out she was allergic to cows milk. Since taking her off the cows milk she has put weight on !!! WOOT!!! She is no longer concave which is a brilliant sight for a Mum. She started life in the 90th percentile & by the age of 1 she was in the 25th percentile for weight & just hovered around the 10th percentile until she started loosing weight at 2 1/2...

I remember having fat roll envy... Its a horrible thing

& saying "failure" about anything increases our risks of PND.

I had failure to progress resulting in c/s and failure to thrive... crap mum syndrome ;)

Fat roll envy, that's what I've got!!!

How about "Relaxed Growers Group"?????? Or RGG for short???

I too with both my girls had " fat roll envy" I feel sorry for any child with a chubby little leg stcking out when I am near I just cant help myself. I twould be so good not to hear those words but for me I have always been told that I just have skinny babies and not too worrie even though both my girls were only 10% for there weight..

Just be greatful that they dont do what they used to do, as with me the health nurse took me off my mum put me in hospital where she wasnt aloud to be alone with me because at 12mth old I was only 11lb and was 8 at birth so they thought she wasnt feeding me and wouldnt lisson to her when she told them I just dont eat.. So they kept me in for 3 days realised that I just didnt eat very much and sent me home without even apoizing(sp?) to my poor mum...

Ali, although jellybean is still on the way and i am obviously yet to encounter this as a possible influence on PND, i just wanted to comment that i think you haver made a fantastic point. :)
I think it could have such a negative effect on any parent, and would obviously male those with PND feel a lot more down about themselves and their parenting skills, so to speak.

Caro - I agree, 'syndrome' doesn't sound like the best thing for it, to me it sounds like labelling the child with a condition - which although mum's are not responsible for i think still has a bit of a negative connotation on it.

Relaxed Growers Group is a good one.
ETA - I like weight-gain resistant as well.

I like weight gain resistant too. The MCHN said that some parent need to hear the shock of the work faliure but I really dont like that. she has never been told that she has an FTT baby so how would she know how it feels to be told that ur baby has failed?!?!?! :angry: some hp's need to hear things for themselves when they r actually in the situation coz it is not noce to b told that sort of s***! as u can tell I am very passionate about this!!!

Need to hear the shock of the word failure?!?!
What kind of person is she??? Sorry, but, honestly, how the hell can that make a mother want to be determined to keep going in helping her child? I understand that perhaps with any mum, not just those with PND, they don't want mum's to become complacent with it, and they think 'failure' will make a difference - but surely it has more of a negative effect than anything else?
*fumes*

just had a different mchn come by. she said that the other 1 shouldn't have said that and agrees with my argument n prefered weight gain resistant. i think we r on the way 2 changing things!

Hi,

Just wanted to say I think SBS would be a much better term. To be honest I only just founf out what the term actually means I thought it was when babies are neglected and then they don't reach developmental milestones so I was way off! I don't mean that to upset anyone with that comment at all my point is just that for people who don't know the name FTT certainly has negative conotations and so I think it should be changed.

I had BF probs and Noah only got back to birth weight at 7 weeks and only because I was advised then to start topping him up with formula then and I know I felt guilty in this time.

Hi,

Just wanted to say I think SBS would be a much better term. To be honest I only just founf out what the term actually means I thought it was when babies are neglected and then they don't reach developmental milestones so I was way off! I don't mean that to upset anyone with that comment at all my point is just that for people who don't know the name FTT certainly has negative conotations and so I think it should be changed.

I had BF probs and Noah only got back to birth weight at 7 weeks and only because I was advised then to start topping him up with formula then and I know I felt guilty in this time.

I think Weight Gain Resistent is a better term. Every time I hear syndrome it stresses me out big time. Now I am hearing failure to thrive, I already feel bad enough seeing V so small and taking forever to gain weight. I feel as tho I am being looked upon as being a bad mum. It amazes me to think that my little V can lose 10% of her body weight in a week from being sick, which would normally take her 6weeks to gain.
So seeing Failure to Thrive really makes you feel more like you are failing your bub.

I so agree, it's an awful term!

Brendan was a FTT bub in his early months, as if having him born so early wasnt enough of a stress to then have the CHN tell me if he didn't gain weight she would send us to the hospital!

I like the weight gain resistant term, much nicer.

I agree it is a terrible term, and very frightening for a parent, when I was told it was when DD started losing weight and was already nearly 1kg below the 1st %ile it was very upsetting, I was already worried anough let alone the sound of that term and what comes with it!

I can see why something like this can also lead to PND.

I also don't like the word syndrome as FTT or WGR is not a syndrome...

Weight Gain Resistant is good :)

WGR....I like it. :) weight gain resistant yeah baby :dance:

As for that MCHN...she needs a slap in the face for that comment. maybe she should be labelled...slow on the uptake Biartch!

Doesnt it make you laugh though....that everything our babies do 'need's' a label to justify what 'stage' they are at at that present time.

What ever did they do in the 1800's without all these catagories :rolleyes:

Yeh, i know i haven't failed as a mum - I advocate strongly so my DD will get the best medical care possible.. I'm so glad her FTT developed only past 6 months, imagine how much i would have doubted myself about my wonderful b/feeding abilities if she did have. I already felt like i was such a failure and it was my fault she was growth retarded a birth... I felt i couldn't grow and nourish her properally.... Now i think, gosh my milk was so great it kept the FTT at bay until she wasn't being exclusively breat fed - and so i have not failed!!

But surgery is tomorrow - we are hoping for a cause for our FTT!!!!

TBH, when I first heard "failure to thrive" I thought of a child on life support or worse, and when I was first told that my niece was a FTT baby, that was what was going through my mind and it terrified me, I thought she was about to die. Then I found out what it actually meant.
I think FTT is a very cruel term and scare tactics are not useful when you are dealing with a child, especially an infant. I know how bad it made my sister feel and I don't even want to think about how bad I would have felt if I had been told my DD (who is currently my only child) was a FTT.

So I agree, the term FTT MUST GO!
I like Weight Gain Resistant. I don't like SBS because as mentioned, it's too close to Shaken Baby Syndrome.

I'm raising my FTT Nephew he was 9 months oldatthe time ( and now he is a active 5 yr old) but his FTT was caused by his mother for starving him and neglect, kept him in a closed room with windows shut and blankets on..This is what we was told that is why he got the FTT...But from what i hear in here that wouldnt be the case..

I wanted to say also I like Weight Gain Resistant. I don't like SBS because as mentioned, it's too close to Shaken Baby Syndrome.
and FTT is a term that scared me when we was first told.. Lil wade Jr was lifeflighted to a children hospital since he was in this FTT and his kidneys were shutting down. We almost lost him .. So that there was enough for me to fight custody for my brother and yes we did win.. so i been raising Alyse,wade jr and breanna They are 7,5 and 6 Very happy active children that love life!

anita