While some chubbiness can be perfectly healthy in babies, studies show obesity risk factors can appear early in …News of America's childhood obesity epidemic-most recently brought to light by Michelle Obama's initiative to combat it-comes with devastating figures: Childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, leaving one-third of American children either overweight or obese. Recent initiatives, including the first lady's, aim to reduce the sugar kids take in through beverages, get them exercising more often, and cut down on the empty calories in school lunches.
But according to a recent article in the New York Times, "interventions aimed at school-aged children may be, if not too little, too late."
Apparently, the slide into obesity can begin much younger than previously realized, with events in toddlerhood, infancy, and even gestation leading kids into a "trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they are in kindergarten." While the article goes on to say the evidence for the link between very early childhood and later obesity "isn't ironclad," it also "suggests that prevention efforts should start early."
Really early. Doctors have long cautioned pregnant women against excessive weight gain, smoking and poor eating habits, but new evidence suggests that babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are at risk of becoming obese later in life (this despite their usually lower birth-weights). The Times story also cites a separate study done on Pima Indians a decade ago that suggests that those born to mothers with gestational diabetes had a higher body mass index throughout childhood.
Eating more, even for babies, may not be a good thing. To be sure, not all chubby-cheeked babies are at risk for obesity-related health problems, however, according to the Times one in 10 children under the age of 2 is actually overweight.
"The idea that a big baby is a healthy baby, and a crying baby is probably a hungry baby who should be fed, are things we really need to rethink," explained Dr. Leann L. Birch, director of Penn State's Center for Childhood Obesity Research.
While obesity prevention programs have typically refrained from addressing weight gain in toddlers and infants, Birch's study committee is looking specifically at developing a set of obesity prevention recommendations for children between the ages of 0 and 5.
Dr. Elsie M. Taveras of Harvard Medical School told the Times: "It used to be kind of taboo to label a child under 5 as overweight or obese, even if the child was." Now, however, it's time to question "whether our policies during the last 10 years have been enough."
So how can you get keep your kids healthy in the womb, in infancy and in toddlerhood? Doctors recommend:
- Overweight women should shed extra pounds before pregnancy to lessen the incidence of diabetes in their own kids.
- Breast-feeding during infancy is thought to lower the risk of obesity in young children.
- Making smart nutritional decisions for your kids during early childhood and beyond. This includes monitoring the amount of sugars and fats your family is consuming, paying attention to empty calories, and teaching your kids how to make good food choices on their own.
- Encouraging your kids to move regularly-whether that's crawling on the floor or running through the park.
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