A toddler with weight and BMI below the 3rd percentile, irregular meals, and constant juice intake. The nurse practitioner plans to work with the family to develop improved meal patterns. Which diagnosis best fits this problem?

A toddler with weight and BMI below the 3rd percentile, irregular meals, and constant juice intake. The nurse practitioner plans to work with the family to develop improved meal patterns. Which diagnosis best fits this problem?

• A. Parenting alteration
• B. Failure to thrive
• C. Home care resources inadequate
• D. Nutrition alteration - less than required

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how caregiver behaviors and routines affect a child’s nutrition and growth. A toddler with weight and BMI below the 3rd percentile shows undernutrition, but the scenario highlights irregular meals and constant juice drinking as the presenting pattern that the nurse plans to address by working with the family on meal patterns. That focus points to a nursing diagnosis about the parent's ability to provide care and establish feeding routines—i.e., a parenting alteration. It captures the caregiver-related factors driving the nutrition issue and guides interventions aimed at improving parenting skills, consistency, and the child’s healthy eating patterns. Labeling this as a medical failure to thrive would imply an underlying organic problem causing poor growth, which isn’t indicated by the information given. While nutritional status is impaired, the intervention described targets parental role performance, making parenting alteration the most fitting choice.

The main idea here is how caregiver behaviors and routines affect a child’s nutrition and growth. A toddler with weight and BMI below the 3rd percentile shows undernutrition, but the scenario highlights irregular meals and constant juice drinking as the presenting pattern that the nurse plans to address by working with the family on meal patterns. That focus points to a nursing diagnosis about the parent's ability to provide care and establish feeding routines—i.e., a parenting alteration. It captures the caregiver-related factors driving the nutrition issue and guides interventions aimed at improving parenting skills, consistency, and the child’s healthy eating patterns.

Labeling this as a medical failure to thrive would imply an underlying organic problem causing poor growth, which isn’t indicated by the information given. While nutritional status is impaired, the intervention described targets parental role performance, making parenting alteration the most fitting choice.