Affective behavior and weight changes among hospitalized failure-to-thrive infants

The affective behavior and weight change of 12 nonorganic failure-to-thrive, 12 organic failure-to-thrive, and 12 control infants (M age = 8 months) were compared across their hospitalization. Infant affect was evaluated at approximately the beginning, middle, and endpoints of hospitalization using the Behavioral Assessment Scale. Among the failure-to-thrive infants, positive responses to stimulation at the initial assessment were related to weight loss across the course of hospitalization, while positive responses to the same stimulation at the middle assessment were related to weight gain. These unexpected results coupled with the finding that 70% of the failure-to-thrive infants gained weight and 30% lost weight across hospitalization led to a comparison between infants who gained and infants who lost weight. An increase in positive affect across hospitalization occurred only for the infants who gained weight. Paradoxically, the losers may have experienced hospital stimulation as less adequate than maternal stimulation, while the gainers may have experienced hospital stimulation as more adequate than home stimulation.

Affect (linguistics) · Body weight · Developmental psychology · Failure to thrive · Obesity · Stimulation · Weight gain · Weight loss · Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues · Early Childhood Education and Development · Infant Development and Preterm Care · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Psychology · Pediatrics

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