Faltering growth

Health professionals should advise parents that their child's growth should be carefully followed to help ensure good progress. They should advise caregivers on the child’s changing nutritional and developmental needs and promote responsive feeding. Depending on the contributory issues, health professionals may also recommend periodic follow-up to assess progress in those areas. For example, poor feeding or an inadequate diet may need to be rectified, and the physician should assess how the family has managed to implement recommendations.

Parents should be advised that with appropriate interventions, children with faltering growth can do very well. Long-term consequences are often due to multiple and interacting risk factors that contribute to, or result from, the faltering growth.