FTT at 3

I don't know if many people are all that familiar with the term FTT.
It's short for Failure To Thrive.
It's a term for any child who is below the 5th centile for weight, height or both. Some things say FTT starts at the 3rd centil, some say falling through a certain number of centiles over x time period qualifies.

It's a nice, clear medical term - and it really hurts as a parent to have your child labeled it.
I know it's just a medical definition and doesn't necessarily reflect on the parents but as a parent your job is to get your child to thrive!

W was described as FTT as a baby and then preschooler due to feeding problems. Once we had a safety net of pediasure under him I could back off the food fight and eventually he came right.

The first time I saw him described as Failure To Thrive I was devastated. I couldn’t manage to keep him inside long enough and then I couldn’t even get him to thrive!!

When the same problems reared their heads with N it still hurt – W had been on pediasure for about 6 months and was doing much better. But at least with N I knew we could get through it with good dietician help.

With T it was hard not to know when he was 3 months old. He was born weighing 5lb 11 oz and at 3 months old was around 9lb 6 oz. He was skin and bone. You could feel his bottom bones through his nappy and I was scared for him.

But we’d done well for about 6 months in the 6 – 12 month range and then did okay until 15 months or so. I knew once he hit the 5^th centile that he’d be officially FTT, certainly once he hit the 3^rd centile.

But on Friday I had to get the doc to fill out some forms where she had to list his dx in order of impact on him and she listed FTT first on the list before his reflux.

That hurt – again. It’s been a year or so since I actually saw it written down, pinned against one of my kids.

You’d think, really, that they could find some kind of term which doesn’t make parents feel like such a failure. Most parents with an FTT child are busting a gut trying to help the kid and really, really don’t need guilt added to it even if it’s not intentional!

Both of the older 2 had lost their FTT label by the age of 3. T is 3 years 2 months and is only getting worse. He has only gained 9 kg in 3 years of life. He is not on the chart, even on the 3rd centile any more. There is no real end in sight for him - and that feels awful! I don't need the FTT baggage as well.