Background & Objective : Failure To Thrive (FTT) refers to the insufficient physical growth or inability in keeping the desired growth rate in a period to time.

  It is a problem in Iran as far as hygienic nutrition is concerned. FTT is a multifactor problem which is caused by various organic and nonorganic agents. This study was conducted to pinpoint the major risk factors involved in the growth of children under 2 years of age who are the most vulnerable age-group in terms of growth disorders.

  Methods: This case-control study was conducted in 2002-2003 on 120 infants (60 cases with FTT and 60 controls) in Namin health centers. The case group was under the third percentage of their growth chart or they had -2SD in growth chart at least in three months. The control group was composed of infants with normal growth chart.

  The demographic characteristics of parents, and the nutritional and antropometric (height/weight, head circumference) characteristics of the subjects were measured. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software, using chi-square and ANOVA.

  Results: The findings indicated higher frequency of respiratory infections, diarrhea and vomiting in case group (p<0.05). The control group, on the other hand, outnumbered the case group in terms of the number of infants under 6 months who were exclusively breast-fed (p<0.05). Most of the infants with FTT had a lower birth weight than control group (p<0.05). The number of mothers with lower level of education and those who were housewives and also the number of family members were significantly higher in case group than control group (p< 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed between two groups in terms of frequency of breast feeding and birth rank.

  Conclusions : The results indicated that some risk factors such as respiratory infections, birth weight, education, mother ُ s knowledge, exclusive breast feeding and the frequency of diarrhea and vomiting have far more important role in growth disturbances in children compared to factors such as frequency of breasr feeding and birth rank.