Long‐Term Hospitalization of Nonorganic Failure‐to‐Thrive Infants: Patient Characteristics and Hospital Course

Hospitalization remains an available treatment option for nonorganic failure-to-thrive (NOFT) infants, even though it separates an infant from his/her caregiver and may further weaken an already impaired caregiver-infant attachment. Long-term hospitalization as an intervention for NOFT has been noted, but not documented, in previous reports in the literature. The present study describes patient characteristics, growth in hospital, and length of stay among a group of NOFT infants referred for and treated through long-term hospitalization. The study also investigated the effects of an additional family-oriented outpatient intervention program on hospital course and discharge planning for these infants. Results of the study found that NOFT infants referred for extended hospitalization were an impoverished group, with the majority showing below average developmental functioning. One-third presented with “interactional” failure-to-thrive, in which biological vulnerability coexisted with, but was not causative of, the infant's poor growth. Infants averaged 18 weeks in hospital, but lengths of stay differed, dependent on the presence of an outpatient treatment group and additional medical problems with both factors reliably associated with shorter lengths of stay. Infants in county welfare custody who did not receive additional outpatient intervention were also more likely to be placed outside the parental home at discharge. J Dev Behav Pediatr 8:25–31, 1987. Index terms: failure-to-thrive, hospitalization, infant development.