failure to thrive syndrome

failure to thrive syndrome,

physical and developmental retardation in infants and small children. The syndrome can be seen in children with a physical illness, but the term is most often taken to mean failure to thrive caused by psychosocial effects, such as maternal deprivation. The syndrome was first noticed when European psychiatrists studied the development of babies who had spent the first 5 years of their lives in institutions where they were deprived of the emotional warmth of a mother, father, or other primary caregiver.