Obesity in Infants?

[mama1803]

Doctors are now being urged to evaluate their infant patients for obesity.

My own two EBF LOs were extremely chubby as infants (in the 99th percentile for weight until almost a year old) and are now tall and very thin at ages 7 and 2.5 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/healthobesitychildrenus

[mysticmomma]

I want to see the actual study. Any help?

[mbravebird]

Arrrghh!!

(voiced by the mother of two huge babies, both off the charts, the oldest of whom is now tall and thin.)

[FireWithin]

I sometimes wonder about this though.

I've become aware of this more because my very dear 3 month old breastfed niece has become huge. She also has food allergies that are being controlled (or ignored) through taking gerd med, mama going dairy free, and ignoring other symptoms.

We discussed this briefly on the allergy forum. I am wondering if some of these round babies are this size because of inflammation. I know my youngest was much rounder than my first and he has a huge list of food intolerances.

So, I was just thinking about it and I think it would be very hard to research because food intolerances can be so elusive, changing symptoms as the child gets older, and nearly impossible to test for.

[mysticmomma]

I guess what I'm wondering is:

How much did these babies weigh?

Are they using BMI? Percentiles? (to determine "overweightness")

How many of these babies were Exclusively BF, how long?

How many of these babes were Extended BF?

How many of these kids were forced to supplement because of poor weight gain?

What was the diet like once solids were introduced?

What is the family stature like?

What do the kids look like 5 years later?

[Traceround]

I'm finding it hard to believe that people are actually worried about obesity in infants. I have a sneaking suspicion that insurance companies are behind this looking for more ways to exclude people on pre-existing conditions (puts on her conspiracy theory hat).

Children, sure, there is a problem there. Childhood obesity is at an all time high.

But a baby??? I have met some positive chubs who were exclusively breastfed who thinned out naturally as they became mobile.

[ameliabedelia]

I've seen both breastfed and formula-fed babies who were very big/chubby as babies slim down and lean out once they became toddlers and started walking. I've also seen the occasional baby (both breast-fed and formula-fed) who DIDN'T seem to slim out/lean down and "stayed bigger".

So, question is, how do we know when an "overweight" baby is a problem...how do we predict which babies WILL NOT go through that natural "leaning out" phase and WHY don't those babies do that?

[JollyGG]

At 6mo my exclusively breastfed baby was in the 90th percentile and the doctor expressed concern about her size. He first wanted to know if I was following bad advice like cereal in bottles. But I assured him that wasn't the case. He did hesitantly broach the idea that maybe I should start limiting feedings. He was promptly ignored by me. She's now 3 1/2 and is very normal sized (not at all overweight).

[outlier]

Originally Posted by mysticmomma

I want to see the actual study. Any help?

Here you go: http://cpj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/a...922809359418v1

I think it's free to download the article.

Here's the link in case that's cut off for you.

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by Mammo2Sammo

I sometimes wonder about this though.

I've become aware of this more because my very dear 3 month old breastfed niece has become huge. She also has food allergies that are being controlled (or ignored) through taking gerd med, mama going dairy free, and ignoring other symptoms.

We discussed this briefly on the allergy forum. I am wondering if some of these round babies are this size because of inflammation. I know my youngest was much rounder than my first and he has a huge list of food intolerances.

So, I was just thinking about it and I think it would be very hard to research because food intolerances can be so elusive, changing symptoms as the child gets older, and nearly impossible to test for.

I think that this could go wo ways. I do think that chubby babies can be healthy babies and I think that it should not really be worried about, but these comments make me wonder about my own daughter. She was HUGE! And she is still a big almost 3 year old. She has loads of allergies though and when she is at her healthiest, she does seem slimmer. And when she is broken out with rashes from allergens, she is extra plump.

But on the other hand, my 6 month old son is so tiny and also has allergies. So oh well, it is not consistent with my kids.