Failure to Thrive

Failure to thrive describes when infants demonstrate an inability to achieve adequate growth or maintain growth. Unfortunately, 5-10% of children in primary care in the United States suffer from this. Most of these children are under the 3rd or 5th percentile in weight at their consecutive weigh-ins.

Failure to thrive can leave parents with a feeling of frustration as they try to help their child as best as possible but can feel as though they are unable to help. However, that may not be true! In fact, recently, a case study was published describing a 13-day-old newborn who had lost 27 ounces since birth as well as being described as appearing lethargic and inconsolable. Breastfeeding was difficult, and the parents both complained of exhaustion. They brought their newborn for chiropractic care in hopes of finding some relief. He was carefully and safely adjusted to remove subluxation in the spine and cranial regions under care. The goal was that if they could get to optimal nervous system function, they could have an easier time getting their child to thrive as nothing would physically be disturbing or bothering his natural feeding processes. Over two weeks, they presented for eight visits, after which the infant's weight increased form 5lbs 1 ounce to 6lbs 12 ounces!

In another particular case, a 4-month old infant girl was diagnosed with failure to thrive and found relief with chiropractic care. She suffered from oral thrush, chronic diarrhea, inconsolable crying, and being extremely underweight. Under chiropractic care, it was revealed she had subluxation in the spine. After just her first visit to chiropractic care, she began to see improvement, and after 7 weeks of care, her situation had completely resolved! Living a life free of subluxation means removing what holds us back. Chiropractic care allows us to remove what interferes with our body. With interference, our natural processes become disrupted, which in turn takes a toll on our ability to live our life, grow, and develop optimally.

Santos, J., DC, CACCP, & Alcantara, J., DC, PhD. (2021). Resolution of failure to thrive in an infant following chiropractic care to reduce vertebral subluxation: A case report and review of the literature. J. Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, 1-4.