This site is intended to provide information on the associated conditions of cerebral palsy.
Failure to thrive is a description applied to children whose current weight or rate of weight gain is significantly below that of other children of similar age and sex.
This "failure to thrive" in infants and children is usually noticed when they seem to be dramatically smaller or shorter than other children the same age.
Failure to thrive probably has several causes, including, in particular, poor nutrition and damage to the brain centers controlling growth and development. Other conditions associated with cerebral palsy, such as difficulty swallowing, can also contribute to this condition. If the child has a difficult time eating and thus recieving the nutrients and calories they require to develop normally, their physical development can slow significantly.
Diagnosing and treating a child who fails to thrive focuses on identifying any underlying problem and promoting weight gain. From there, doctors and the family work together to get the child back into a healthy growth pattern.
"The typical picture has been one of a child who starts out plump and growing well but over time begins to fall off, particularly in weight gain," says Jay A. Perman, MD, professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Maryland. After a while, growth in height slows as well.
If the period of failure to thrive has been short, and the factors contributing to the condition are determined and can be corrected, normal growth and development will likely resume. If failure to thrive is prolonged, the effects may be long lasting, and normal growth and development may not be achieved.
Researchers have found that adolescents with cerebral palsy have delayed and prolonged puberty with a poor nutritional state as the primary reason.
They may also develop precocious puberty, which occurs when puberty begins before the age of 7 in girls and age 9 in boys.
Amoungst young adults with cerebral palsy, there is a higher incidence of cryptorchidism (a failure of testicular descent into the scrotum) than in the general population. Some studies have shown that 53% of cerebral palsy sufferers at the age of 21 have this condition. It is important that a doctor perform a physical examination to young males with cerebral palsy to determine whether they are suffering cryptorchidism.