This case study includes Nutrition & Growth/Development. You may use your text
book
Sarah Sims is here today for her one year well child check. She is at 3% of weight
for length and very low on the other growth charts. She is not meeting her 1-year
developmental milestones. Sarah’s mother reports that she has had to work 2 jobs
to meet the needs of her family and that she is very stressed. Sarah is diagnosed
with failure to thrive.
1. Is Sarah’s failure to thrive organic or inorganic? How do you know? List
some causes of organic vs inorganic.
Sarah’s failure to thrive (FTT) can be considered both organic and
inorganic based on the provided information. Overall, we want to
categorize her FTT as organic due to her diagnosis of Celiac Disease
which results in her not receiving the nutrients that she needs.
Organic FTT is when a medical condition is causing the lack of growth
or for a child’s development to digress. Celiac Disease causes Sarah
to not be able to eat gluten. In Celiac Disease, gluten can damage the
intestines that could cause her to not be able to absorb all the
nutrients from the food she ingests. Due to the lack of absorption,
Sarah is becoming malnourished which could be causing the weight
decrease. However, if we discuss this as an inorganic FTT, we can
assume that Sarah’s mother is at financial hardship based on her
report of working two jobs. Sarah’s mother could be working two
jobs because they are economically insufficient to meet the needs of
a child. We would want to discuss food availability with Sarah’s
mother because the lack of financial support could be resulting in
lack of food, and in Sarah’s case with Celiac Disease, she would need
specific foods that typically are more costly. Also, inorganic FTT can
be caused by neglect or maternal withdrawal. In this case, Sarah’s
mother could be busy working her two jobs which creates a sense of
withdrawal toward Sarah. We need to discuss with Sarah’s mother
about her feelings toward Sarah and reassure her that if she is feeling
withdrawn from Sarah, that it is common and we can help her bond
better with Sarah. We also need to reassure her that there is no fault
in Sarah’s FTT, but we also need to determine what could be
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, affecting her growth.
2. What assessments are important?
• Physical
▪ The things we should focus on physically in Sarah’s case is her
height and weight since she is below the normal growth rate
and since she has been
diagnosed with celiac disease. Since she is deficient in proper
nutrients for growth, her height could be affected because of
the lack of bone growth.
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