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June 23rd, 2011
04:57 PM ET
1 in 5 kids carry too much weight before kindergartenChildhood obesity prevention efforts should start early – like after birth, says the Institute of Medicine. Almost 10% of infants and toddlers under the age of 2 carry extra weight. And one in five children between ages of 2 and 5 are overweight or obese. “What happens early in children's development has an impact on later health,” said Leann Birch, who served as the chair on the IOM committee. “Rapid weight gain and obesity early can increase risk of obesity and chronic disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes later in life.” To address early childhood obesity, the Institute of Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization that gives advice to decision makers and the public, gave advice on kids’ nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviors. The report's target audience was policymakers and stakeholders including health or child care providers, although many of its points are applicable to parents. Here are some of its recommendations:
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
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HOW can a child that young be overweight? It just boggles my mind. The children I nanny for are 3 and 6, both of them are incredibly skinny. I'd rather veg on the couch and watch a movie, they want to run around the house screaming for six hours. They get to have junkfood (not for every meal, but all the same they ingest it a few times a week). How can a pre-k child possibly be overweight due to anything but a medical condition?
There's a kid that lives a block from me, and he's 5 or 6 years old but he has to weigh close to 100 lbs. He can barely walk because of it.
Actually, unfortunately, this is becoming quite common. More and more toddlers are drinking fast food/prepared food, juices, soda, and other junk for most meals. I work with children and it amazes me how much they are eating.
Have you seen what parents are feeding their children these days? In order for a child to be overweight they must be ingesting 1000s of calories to make up for their activity and yet it is true – sorry not a medical condition unless you consider irresponsible parenting (which I consider abuse) a medical condition. So sad.
It's mostly parents that hit the drive-thru for every meal and seldom if ever cook a home. Breakfast is sugary cereal or a pop tar. Morning snack is a popsicle or more cereal. Lunch is chicken nuggets and french fries and a sugar-laden drink. Afternoon snack of ice cream and cookies and dinner is a cheese burger or pizza – whoever has the best special going that night. Oh, and then the Little Debbie cake just before bedtime to ward off the bedtime temper tantrum which is nothing more than a result of junk food over load.
My friends kid just graduated from Pre School. The kid is not overweight yet, but his parents have spoiled him to no end. He hardly speaks a word. He looks at his parents and they start guessing at what he might want and when they eventually make the right guess he nods his head. They still move him about town in a stroller. When I was 5 my parents had already given me little chores, my parents never used a stroller, they carried me and my sisters, which encouraged our walking at an early age. My parents never kept colas at home and the only carbonated beverages I was allowed to drink were 7Up, Root Beer, Cream Soda and that happened very seldom. To this day I hardly drink sodas, maybe one a week. I have friends that drink a six pack of their favorite sodas every day, 75% of those that drink the large amounts of sodas are obese and several have become diabetic.
You said it yourself, the kids you watch eat junk food but not at every meal and are always active. There are a lot of sitters and parents who would rather sit in front of a computer and not supervise their kids, so they have them watch TV, a movie, or play video games. Parents these days are also feeding younger and younger kids fast food and "juices" with no real fruit juice in them. I've seen a friend give her 2 year old the mushy fries in her order. THAT is how pre-K kids are becoming overweight and obese. It isn't hard to do, especially when the child isn't active.
I wish I knew. I have a little one who is severely overweight and I have no idea why. He is very active, we don't eat junk food and he has never had a soda before in his life. He runs around during school, plays soccer and comes home and runs around the back yard. His doctor dismissed the idea that it could be glandular and said to put him on Atkins to get the pounds off. Atkins is full of fat! I can't imagine that helping him. He loves to eat steamed vegetables, and I should tell him not to? I don't know what to do, and I wish there was some real resource to help me. He is about 40 pounds overweight.
I have seen some shockingly obese preschoolers out in public and they are almost always being encouraged to drink a huge 32 oz soda. Also some parents do not allow their preschoolers to run around and make them sit in front of the TV for long hours.
My 5 year is allowed to drink soda once in a while, but we serve it in a 6 oz glass and she gets about 3-4 glasses per week max. The amount not only matters for calorie intake, but also for habits. It won't take anyone too long to become obese if they drink a 32 oz soda everyday.
Fats ARE essential for growing brains. Obesity in children is from lack of activity & sedentary "screen" based lifestyle as well as working mothers who don't have the time to create and prepare home cooked food properly. It takes a lot of thought and effort to feed them properly. Most of the parents are fat too. Too many sodas and processed foods in general. Don't eat anything with high fructose corn syrup in it. Bodies can't process that stuff and it is in so many foods in America.
Don't get hung up on eating fats making you fat. It's not that straightforward. However, eating large excesses of carbohydrates (sugars, starches, anything with grains – that includes corn) will put on fat. Some sugars appear to be almost 100% converted to fat when consumed. Avoid drinking sugars at all cost.
It is called terrible parenting. It takes less time and effort to give your child a Happy Meal or pop tart than to buy groceries and feed them real foods. Freaking ridiculous. I wish the ability to reproduce could be regulated.
What's interesting is my son was a very overweight breastfed baby/toddler – and he eats healthy, I try to give him water most of the time rather than juice etc – and he is active, however he hasn't taken a nap since he was about 20 months. He just doesn't no matter what you do. Very rarely he might take a short one, but we're talking about once every two months. He is now 3 1/2, he sleeps about 11 hours at night – and he is still overweight. I'm not sure what to do, but I think in his case it may be his sleeping habits.
May I make a suggestion? Define, for yourself, what you understand as "healthy" and "overweight". These words vary in meaning to people. What I mean is when you say "healthy" I am thinking fruits, veggies, no milk products. What do you mean by that? When you say "overweight" is that what your doctor told you? If so, by how much? Some toddlers are chubby but will loose that with growth. While I think it is important that we take care about weight issues I also think we should accept that not all children are alike and not let us do something because we panic. I hope you can figure it out for you and your child.
Can I also suggest that if you haven't already looked at the book "Eat This, Not That" you may want to pick up the newest 2011 version? It's a very interesting and easy read and shows you some ideas of what the better food choices are. Many people think they are eating healthy, but aren't. It explains the changes in the food industry over the years–it's fascinating and a bit frustrating! Also, it give you all kinds of options from different areas: Supermarkets, restaurants, holiday foods, drinks and even sweets for those days when you want to treat yourself, but still want the better choices. They have a small section with their 10 favorite healthy recipes and a fun section for kids specifically. (Keep in mind, there are different versions of this book–I'd start with the most recent one that covers a little of everything. My next purchase is going to be the full restaurant version.)
When I was born, 1955 in Oakland CA, I was the biggest baby in the hospital at a little over 8 lbs, my parents said that people used to look into the viewing window and say: thats the biggest baby I've ever seen. Now days 8 lbs seems very common. I was chubby up till about 4 or 5 and then all that baby fat just burned away as I grew. I ate more than most kids but burned it off, and was not finicky about trying other foods, but never put on weight. My parents watched my diet for me. For breakfast – Milk, Cereal , toast ,some fruit, lunch – sandwich ( Baloney, peanut butter, or tuna ), milk, apple, sometimes a couple of cookies, Dinner -Water or Milk,Salad, Meat, vegetables, (potatoes, rice or pasta). There was never desert, it just wasn't around unless my parents made it visible ( a bowl of Jello or popsicle was a big treat ). My parents never let me stay up past 9:00 PM. Parents aren't Parents anymore they are Servants to their Children.
Angelique,
Breastfed babies usually tend to put on more pounds early. Breastfeeding actually decreases chances of obesity later in life. Doctors keep telling me that my 3 year old daughter is overweight. In truth, she is thinning out more and more everyday. We are vegetarians that eat a very low fat diet filled with fruits and veggies. It's good for breastfed babies to be chunky, that's normal! I wish that the media would concentrate more on that. The best way to prevent obesity is to breastfeed! There is a ton of research out there backing this up.
Babies\toddlers that are chubby from breast milk are healthy. There is no need to be concerned about their weight as long as you limit the soda and sugar and allow them to be active. Weight from breast milk is not the same as weight from formula or fast food.
@Sasha- Milk is essential for a healthy child. Milk does not make children obese. In fact not drinking milk contributes to obesity.
One big problem with all this is the misunderstandings about nutrition for children. Fats and milk are not bad for children (in moderation). Even fast food once and a while or a few chicken nuggets at lunch are not that bad. It is the amount and frequency of high sugar foods and the lack of exercise that makes children fat. Also people and kids have different body types so people should make sure they are not just unhappy that their kid is stocky instead of thin as a rail.
I am not an expert on pediatric nutrition, but your child may just have a slower metabolism or be going through a growth spurt. I know plenty of kids who were chunky when they were younger but eventually grew out of it. Definitely talk to your doctor, though- that's really the best thing you can do about your concerns. Also, it's good that you are feeding him healthy foods. When children are younger it's so important to offer them a variety of nutrient-rich foods, especially lots of fruits and vegetables.
@ faith
Study done by the University of California.
Pretty much blames the fact we've up'd carb's in our diet, in particular, fructose, which seems to not digest well in our system, nor does the chemical tell our brain that we are full/ satiated. Might have heard of high fructose corn syrup, which is now in many ingredients that seem ridiculous, such as bread. Bet you that if ya look at the ingredients in your bread, you'll find high fructose corn syrup as one of them
This is a great presentation, but most people have a hard time following the metabolism and endocrinology diagrams. They should be teaching this in health class instead of the ridiculous food pyramid nonsense.
I will add, that cane sugar is no better than corn syrup. Neither is good for you. I like the bit about soda in this video – to paraphrase – Why does soda have so much sugar? To hide the flavor of the obscene amount of salt. Why does soda have so much salt? To make you thirsty so you drink more soda.
...the baby in the picture has dirty fingernails. ew
Don't spend much time around babies, do you. Want to talk about ew? Ew is watching your 2yr old daughter pick up a dead gecko off the floor, and stick it in her mouth. I nearly gagged trying to get it out.
Almost all kids have dirty fingernails unless they've just bathed! We let our 1.5 yr old run around in our backyard, she plays in the dirt and mud and has a great time. Why obsess over being clean while she's playing? Isn't that part of the point of this article, do get kids to be active, spend time outdoors instead of in front of the tv. Dirty fingernails are a normal part of that.
What is interesting to me, is my brother in law and his wife are PIGS, huge, sloppy, people. Their son, 5, WILL NOT eat hardly ANYTHING, throws fits and cries, they go and buy him happy meals or my bro-in-law picks him up mac n cheese/burgers/pizza from whatever bar he is hanging out at for the day (fridays/applebees/pizza places)..Went to fa family dinner at the sis in laws side..they got him to eat corn and he GAGGED And cried spitting it out....he spends the majority of his time at the computer/his dads video game systems with kiddy games
HE IS SUPER THIN!!!!!!!
Yeah see, that right there tells me that my son must have some other issue going on. I make sure my son gets balanced meals, usually more veggies than anything else, and rarely ever gets any sort of junk food. He's active too – yet he's around the 95th percentile in weight.
the kid will bloat up as his metabolism slows .. he doesn't stand a chance of being healthy
how skinny someone is has no bearing on the havoc their diet does to their insides - high blood pressure and diabetes are assuredly in this kid's future.
Your judgemental comments suggest to me that you don't really know what your nephew eats. 5 year olds can be difficult at meals and you really have no right to even comment unless you are a parent yourself, and even then there is more than 1 approach to raising a child.
I also really question these comments that say this kid is unhealthy even though he is thin. It is hard to know unless we had the exact facts on his diet but cheese burgers and pizza are not neccesarily unhealthy and small amounts of sugar and junk food will do no harm if a child is active. It is very possible to have a healthy child without making them be a vegetarian or not drink milk. I wonder about the comments from the person that says she feeds her child only veggies and he is 40 lb over weight. Lean meat is quite healthy and a vegetarian diet with a lot of carbohydrates can lead to obesity. I don't think it is healthy to no give a child meat. They need it for proper brain growth.
@Rachel – If it is judgmental to call parents out for being lazy pushovers, then I am guilty as can be. But I am certain that I am not the only one who feels that way. My tolerance has its limits when it comes to children. The fast food approach to feeding is just as horrifying to me as the weird baby yoga videos. I agree that we should not follow fad diets with children (as you assert elsewhere). But fast food is a recent human invention and feeding it to children is no less an experiment than the fad diets.
That's a baby hand. It's fine for a baby to be chubby! You know you got slerbert magnet when there's a fat roll in the middle of the forearm.
I find it incredulous that these young children should be fed low fat/nonfat dairy products. Kids NEED fat in their diet for brain development. If the child has the right offerings of food, is active, healthy they will be just fine. No one should suggest that being in the 85th% they need diet modification...genetics play a huge role in this and there is NOTHING you can do about that one. I know of several people that had kids in the 90th percentile as toddlers and preschoolers....low and behold when they grew...skinny as rails!!!
thank you! seriously, it's a combination of factors. heredity does play about 80%. but, as long as we aren't feeding them a steady stream of crap and we're getting them out there moving (i.e. not plopping 'em in front of the tv/comp hours on end) they should be fine in the end. maybe the article is geared towards those that do plop 'em in front of tv with mc d's more often than not...but, to those stressed about their baby being over the magic 80th %, relax a bit. keep offering a variety of healthy food choices, keep the buggers moving, playing, get them enough sleep, and unless there's something metabolically wrong and the kid is morbidly obese regardless of what you do (i.e. condition like prader willi's), don't spend so much time focusing on their weight as the end result. focus on healthy.
fast food, sodas, snacks, cookies, etc ... USA is sucking up all the corporate garbage, obese, lazy and getting sicker. School lunches contribute greatly. Obesity and diabetes are epidemic among kids. Medical costs of these choices will skyrocket just as we run out of money to treat them. Obesity and smoking are bad health choices that should not be paid for with public funds. Wanna be obese or smoke? Pay your own med bills.
I'm glad my parents knew something about nutrition, that my mom was a great cook , that when I grew up there weren't any drive thru's and pizza and hamburger places within a 20 minute drive wherever you live.
ppl feed their kids junk these days. i cant believe have the crap i see ppl shoving in their babies and toddlers mouth.
the parents eat that garbage, too - too lazy to cook or prepare a healthy meal or get off the couch.... the children are going to die younger than they should with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.
Yeb, I see those at American's BIG, FAT Corporation of FAT CATS, Fast Food Restaurants. Can the US Gov't protect you against small pox? Yes, I bet it can; but NOT against these American's BIG, FAT Corporation of FAT CATS, Fast Food Restaurants. Did you have your mandatory Do-NUT today?
Pediatricians should also stop making parents worry about their kids being skinny. Breastfed babies are skinnier than formula fed ones. Very active children (my son crawled before 6 months) will be skinnier and not follow the growth charts. I was pushed with both my children to get them to eat more. They are simply VERY active and eat healthy food rather than junk. I'd rather have problems getting my kids into clothes because they're skinny than the other way around. Kids under 2 don't need any juice. We don't keep it in the house, so our 3yo never asks for it. She is just fine with water and milk. If you don't give it to them, they can't know to ask for it!
I really don't believe that breast feed babies are skinner than formula fed. I breast feed both my kids for 1 year and they were both chubby and very active. When they are babies I think it's more genetic than anything else. But I do agree that Drs make parents worry if the kid is on the slim side.
My toddler is skinny too..was breastfed for eighteen months and is very active. People say he is teeny but his doc says he is perfect...meeting all his milestones and growing. He is in the fifth percentile. I was skinny too as a child so it's eighty percent genetic. He is a picky eater but we keep offering new foods as we go along. We listen to his verbal fullness cues..no forcing !
My daughter was bottle fed and has always been dead center on the charts until this past year. Now, she's a little under weight, but she's also gone from reading all the time to being more active in sports. I expect her to catch back up to the center range very soon. I never had juice in the house, either, and once she started kindergarten and I had to pack her lunch (no way was she eating school lunch), I did start buying apple juice, but made sure it was 100% natural with no HFCS. I agree with you that pediatricians need to lay off. What is considered a skinny kid these days was normal weight when I was a kid. I actually had DCS called on me a few years ago because someone decided my child was underweight and not being fed. Overweight kids have become such the norm that normal weight kids look unhealthy.
I have issues with the under 2 year old part of this article. My 14 month old is in the 45 percentile for weight and 25 for height. He is chubby but was breast feed and eats tons of fruit and veggies and he will slim down as he grows. I've seen fat little kids but worry about kids under 2 seems extreme to me.
I look to see what the rest of the family is like. A chubby toddler with normal weight siblings and parents is probably just going through a phase & will grow out of it. But when everyone in the family is overweight or obese from the toddler up to the parents, then that ought to be a big red flag.
The article clearly stated that the doctor should counsel the parents on diet when the child is above the 85th percentile growth curve. Last I checked 45 is less than 85. Thus your child would not be considered at risk for being overweight or obese.
my baby girl is 7 almost 8 she weighs about 63 pound's.I have problems with my weight also but what is sad is that she weighs herself all the time to make sure she hasnt increased in weight. I now live a life style that is not perfect but healthier then before I lost 120pds.It makes me sad because my little girl may weigh 63pounds but she is 4'3.Teaching our kid's to be healthy is beyond awesome but sometimes I think its a little to much...................
She sounds like a normal height and weight to me...my youngest son will be 8 in august and he weighs 63 lbs and is about that height. He's all muscle though...is she lean or soft? Tell her that it's ok to gain weight as we grow taller and teach her that as long as we are gaining lean muscle, she's doing great. I got rid of our scale. We have a wii balance board and it's a pain to weigh ourselves on it, but that's the only way we can in our house. Not like just jumping on a scale in the bathroom. That's a bit unhealthly that she does it daily. Congrats to you on your weight loss...I wish I could be inspired to get moving....trying to talk my hubby into doing more with me.
Where did she learn to weigh herself? I worry about the same things you do, and my approach has been to never let my daughter see me weigh myself, or hear me talk about my weight, or disparrage myself in any way, even when I'm having a low self-esteem day. My hope is that she'll never have a low self-esteem day.
That's just gross
i was very lucky my son only liked raw fruits and vegetables. it was over 90% of his diet and he wouldn't eat them any other way. yes, he liked "noodles" and bagels, but it was mostly the raw stuff. a fruit plate for dinner was such a treat for him. i didn't let him have strawberries (or honey or pb) until he was three, just in case he might have been allergic to them, but he did drink tea and had cheese occasionally. this diet, coupled with his high activity level, kept him very thin. (i should add he didn't eat solid food, which he didn't like, until he was 6 mos. old. maybe that had something to do with his weight as well.)
It is not healthy to feed children only raw food. They need cooked food for brain development. If you only feed your toddler raw food you risk damaging his brain. There is nothing wrong with cooked carrots and chicken. There is a time to be concerned about child being too thin – when he only eats raw food. Little kids don't need that much, but you should really make sure he is eating some cooked food every day.
My son was a little porker when he was born. He was in the 95th percentile for his height weight and head size. He had cute little rolls of fat around his little wrists and didn't have a neck to speak of. And I'm sure the only reason he was able to sit up so early in life, was that his fat gut propped him up.lol. But he is 10 now and skinny. You'd never believe he was the same kid. As long as the child has a healthy diet,(and yes that can even include junk food once and a while) and is active, nature will usually take care of the rest. If not, simply reconsider their diet and activity level and if that still isn't enough, then consider genetic testing for markers that may show a predisposition towards obesity. But giving our children unhealthy body images and imposing insecurities about weight at such age is ridiculous. Let kids be kids.
My 4 kids love tv, love video games and love to play outside as well. While I limit intake of sodas to maybe one a week, we still allow a couple pcs. of candy after lunch and either another couple after dinner or some other small treat, like a cupcake or fudgesicle. We don't eat out much (almost never) and things like happy meals are limited to maybe once every month or 2. My kids still drink 2% milk, we eat cheese (hard and soft) everyday and I cook with real butter and or olive oil, not margarine. One son is very active in karate and he plays baseball seasonally....my 4 yr old daughter played t-ball this year as well. That is the only organized sports my kids play, but thruout the school year, my oldest daughter was pushed in PE so hard she was losing weight she really couldn't afford to lose. She now needs to gain a bit back.
They are all around the 50% mark for weight and maybe a tiny bit higher for height. I find it a bit odd that both of my boys, ages 7 and 9 have 6-packs and very well defined muscles. We were at a baseball pool party (my sons team won the championship for his division) and I was looking at all the other little boys. While they looked pretty normal for the most part, there were a couple that at 9-11 yrs old actually had what we call dubes (dude boobs), which is just wrong. The other kids weren't exactly fat, but just looked squishy soft rather than lean. I'm always amazed at my kids muscles.
My husband and I def. need to lose weight but I wouldn't call us obese. I kind of held on to some lbs after each baby and he kind of put on weight due to some meds. We don't feel like we have the time to regularly exercise. My goal is to always provide balanced meals, with healthy snack. Do we have chips in our house? Yes, but they aren't given the bag, they are given a small portion with their sandwich, along with carrot sticks and a fruit. If they want a snack, I offer them fruit, celery and peanut butter, yogurt, string cheese, etc.....way before I would every offer them junk. But, do we eat junk, yes, just in moderation.
Moderation is the key, that and introducing foods, like veggies early enough before they get spoiled to the crap most people feed their kids. Chicken nuggets and fries, hot dogs, hamburgers and pizzas all have their place on our menu, but not weekly, maybe not even monthly. If people would actually take the time to prepare a menu and cook meals instead of relying on take-out crap or boxed food, then the world would be a slimmer place. BTW, my 9 yr old sons favorite meal is a chef salad. When he asks for one, my 12 yr old daughter always asks for the same. They would eat that 7 days a week if I let them, but again, moderation. I think you can go too far either way.
In the cpomlicaetd world we live in, it's good to find simple solutions.
Oh, and my 9 yr old with muscles was born at almost 11 lbs and was above the 95th percentile for height and weight as a baby...he was over 16 lbs at 3 months, but other than the normal baby rolls on the thighs as a baby, even then he was never what I would call "fat". It just doesn't happen in our family, so along with balanced diet (common sense) and normal activity, they have no issues....Oh yeah, part of my problem is hypothyroidism, had it removed when I was 19. That's another part of so many people's issues....it's becoming an issue even for kids. Look at all the perservatives and additives in food, look at all the chemicals in our water, antibiotics and fillers in our meat....Doesn't it make sense that all that stuff is unhealthy and causing us to become a heavier nation?
I had one baby that was "healthy". I never saw her as overweight but it seems like these days a doctor would have classified her that way. Today she(14yrs old) is 5'5" and weighs 103lbs soaking wet. She was breastfed for 8mos. As soon she weaned herself and became really active she started thinning out at a fast rate. My other children were breastfed for 6mos or less and thinned out before they turned a year old. A doctor classified my youngest daughter (3yr old) as FTT because she weighs only 23lbs. He wanted me to basically force extra calories in her (no matter what form it comes in) and feed her even when she is not hungry. I think that is unhealthy and will form unhealthy eating habits. I have taken her for a second opinion recently. The second doctor said he would have never diagnosed her as FTT just because of her weight. After observing her he said he was more worried about me having a heart attack trying to keep oup with her. They really need to throw those growth charts out the door. Healthy children grow on their own growth curves and come in all sizes.
A good pediatrician tracks height and weight but watches the trend of the child's curve on the growth chart to determine what is normal for the child. My scrawny boy - 95% height, 80% weight, every time. My daughter was consistently 95% height and 85% weight, then suddenly flip-flopped to 85% / 95%. I thought I had noticed her "filling out", and the numbers confirmed it. She had slowed her height growth and discovered the internet. She's still healthy, but I'm watching her diet and activity levels much closer now than before to keep her in the green zone.
You're joking about calling your boy scrawny right? My son is around the 50th percentile for height and is in the 10th for weight. That is scrawny. Also to the original poster your description does sound like FTT. My son is only 21 months old and he weighs 23 lbs. That is the 10th percentile for his age. I would imagine that would be around the 1st for a 3 y/o. Seeing a dietician or finding out if there are reasons why your child is not eating enough would be a good idea. A good friend has a son who has always been small like your child. He recently was diagnosed as being gluten intolerant and he also has lactose intolerance. He was not able to absorb all the calories from his food and would regularly have bouts of diarrhea and vomiting from the gluten problem.
@kdw31.....my daughter has been tested for everything under the sun almost. Every test has come back normal. She eats more than the average toddler. People are amazed at how much my little one can eat. It is just genetics and metabolism at it's best. The second opinion doctor said he would have never diagnosed her at FTT because she is growing in height. She has never missed a milestone and is well ahead with most of her milestones. She is a highly active child and she is not a sickly child at all. She is just small.
I notice this a lot at work when I see these people come in with their >5 year olds who are incredibly chubby. Unsurprisingly their parents are fat too and this seems to correlate to kids of all ages who are fat always seeming to have fat parents.
I work at a Chinese resturant, I see parents feeding the kids bowls of sweet and sour sauce. They put on rice and on chicken that already has sweet and sour sauce.
What is sweet and sour sauce made out of?
White sugar+ water+ corn starch+ food coloring+ little bit of vinegar
Some parents put sweet and sour sauce on pacifiers, for the baby when sleeping. Guess which baby will have rotten teeth?
We used to lie about our middle child's weight. She weighed 4 lbs at full term birth, 12 lbs at a year and 24 lbs when she started kindergarten. We used to ADD pounds to her weight. She tracked a perfect growth curve, but below the 5% mark–she's always been in the 99% for smarts, though. She is now a 20-year-old college student, all 4' 10", 90 lbs of her, she is an athlete on a Big 10 team, too. She looks like both sides of her family, we're all short around here.
Babies are *supposed* to be chubby! Monitoring children under 2 is extreme. Are they going to recomend infants being on a diet? Ignore your baby's cry for food, lest he become over the 85%? My pediatrican told me "there is no such thing as over-feeding in the first year." Also, why isnt' breastfeeding a reccomendation? Study after study shows that breastfeeding lowers obiesty risks.
We have the opposite problem with our toddler, she is only in 7% for her weight. She eats alot on some days and then others not so much. Our doctor has told us to put her on a high fat and calorie diet, to get her weight up. We worry about doing this because we do not want to create habits in her future were she eats all high fat and high calorie foods.
Other then her weight and height (12%) she is developmently on track.
I think it depends on the neighbourhood. There aren't any obese children in my daughter's school. There aren't any obese children in our neighbourhood. She starts middle school n the fall. I'll keep you posted.
Stop with the crap food, juices and formula.
The child in the picture not only needs to lose weight..............he needs a good bath, too. His nails are filthy!
Such a happy nation of porkers, we are.
You got that RIGHT, Dr! I love the PIG part. FYI: The white hope "A PIG with a Lip Stick" didn't win 2008 elections though. Guess what would had happened? We will be walking around with a HUGE pot-bellies.
Ok. But if the child is overweight on the curve the doctor says no big deal lose a little weight. If the child is marginally underweight on the curve the doctor wants to find out what incredible illness the child has that makes them underweight. The culture says feed them up not slim them down – not matter what the healthy dogma fashion story is today – the culture of life is and has always said feed the baby, a big baby is good.
And as for obese babies, yes, they are. It's mostly the milk (it contains pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, growth hormones, anti-biotics, etc...) Plus, the food that cows are given disrupts the cow's milk natural balance, which is supposed to be 1 part omega 3 to 1 part omega 6. Cows that naturally browse the fields for grass have that perfect balance. Cows fed with grains and such have almost no omega 3 and sky high omega 6. Omega 6 (without the omega 3 to counter balance it) makes people fat. So non-organic milk products make people fat. Natural food is what the system was built on and needs to function properly. It then becomes a question of choice, which comes from knowledge.
Excellent post.
This is a dangerous comment. Milk is essential to proper health in children. A child is more in danger of becoming obese if they do not drink milk. Milk does not make a child fat. It is NOT serving milk and serving juice and sugar drinks instead that make a child fat.
People should be very worried about their underwieght children if they are following any type of fad diet. You can cause brain damage if your toddler does not get enough fat, cooked vegetables and meat and milk. If you want to follow fads yourself fine, but don't damage your children with foolish nutritional choices like not serving milk!
My twin boys were born at 38 weeks, one was 5lb 13 oz, the other 5lb 14 1/2oz. They have always been on the light(er) side, usually in the 50-75% percentiles. One is now on medication that makes him not hungry, he's also somewhat picky – likes chicken, not much for beef or other meats, likes broccoli, corn, cauliflower, not much on desserts, drinks milk. The other would eat non-stop if I let him, is more of a sweet eater, outweighs his brother by about 20+ pounds. Figure it will all work out as long as I continue offering healthy alternatives, limiting sweets, etc. Fortunately neither of them like soda or any carbonated beverages.
Stop feeding the children junk food! Stop feeding them fast food! Get them off their derrieres and away from tv, video games, etc. and play with them! Good heavens! How flipping stupid are we?
How can you have an entire article on preventing obesity in young children without ever once mentioning breastfeeding?
They left out the American's BIG FAT Corporation FAT CATS that makes over $Multi-Trillion/Hour Fast Food Restaurants that made it so. America Obesity problems lay squarely at the door steps of American's BIG FAT Corporation FAT CATS. If the mother is FAT what purpose will her breast milk FULL of FAT serves? Check images of Americans in the 50's and 60's when most of these American's BIG FAT Corporation FAT CATS didn't exists. Not only that, have you ever tasted Campbell Soup and didn’t notice the extreme Sodium (SALT) content?
Articles like this are incomplete and are unhelpful. It is not the percentile that matters but the weight to height percentile...in other words: is the child proportional? A child in the 90 percentile of weight that is also in the 90 percentile of height is perfectly healthy while a child in the 90 percentile of height but in 30 percentile of weight is too skinny or if reverse, too fat. Weight and height percentiles have to be within a standard deviation of each other.
Having said that, kids need to increase water intake and reduce juice intake to no more than one cup of juice a day. If the child insists, cut the juice in half with water, avoid obvious junk food, and always include fruit and vegetables with major meals.
Thank you for pointing this out. Many parents don't seem to understand how growth charts work. My son is skinny 50th height and 10th weight. He has a friend who is the same age. He is over the 99th percentile for height and weight. He looks like a perfectly average size. Though he is mistaken for being a 3 y/o instead of being not quite 2. His mother is almost 6 feet tall and his father is 6' 3". He's just tall not fat.
for the record, blue yogurt is not a healthy snack
Stop feeding them animals- they're adding up all those calories, fat etc that they can no way burn!
It TAKES an "ANIMAL" to know.
Make sense to your PUNKASS?
@che-3 lol! your ignorance is bursting through the seams! Tell you what- read some Mark Twain- here's a starter- Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. Hope it sticks! Ciao!
Meat is essential to a healthy diet for a growing child. Don't damage your childs health by imposing a ridiculous "no meat" fad on them. Humans are omnivores. We are supposed to eat meat. It is no more worng for a human to eat meat than a lion to eat meat.
It's enough to have a tiny kid on the the seat in the plane, I dread sitting next to or in front of an obese kid! The country is fast getting obnoxious! In part it's a result of anything goes mindset in the name of 'freedom.' We have become an ugly country with a lot of illnesses! Stop 'normalizing' being fat! while at it, stop 'normalizing' teen-pregnancy as well! Have you seen the number of kids with kids these days, in fact, fat kids giving birth to fat kids! What's going on in this country?
We have seven children and they are all over the map. We've got 3 kids who are "super skinnies"...our 11 year old is 68 lbs. Her 10 year old sister is 74 lbs. All of them are tall and thin except for our plump 5 yo. I feed them all same and mostly they have similar activity levels (they love to run around outside). As many others have said, obsessing about weight for an under 2 year old seems unwise. I think it better to focus on the entire lifestyle...what are they eating? Are they getting exercise? Adequate sleep? We actually do allow some junk food, but I cook almost all our meals from scratch and very rarely allow juice or pop. Moderation. Balanced lifestyle. Yep, there have been a lot of wise comments on this story.
Could we please focus a bit less on weight and a bit more on health? All 8 babies my sisters and I have collectively had have all been 90+ percentile for weight in their firth 14 months of life or so. We were lucky enough that all could be exclusively breastfed by fairly healthy mommas. And all have been (thank heavens) the picture of health and development. And as soon as they hit 2 or so, they thin out. The fattest of the babies (literally, he was off the charts, his doc gave my sister a hard time about his "obesity") is now the skinniest, most active little kid ever.
There's a reason that society often equates "chubby" baby with "healthy" baby- their little bodies work differently.
Still, obviously, don't go feeding your kids nothing but french fries. But a little bit of baby fat into the preschool years isn't anything to worry about, if your kid is getting the right nutrients and activity.
What do you expect? This is America "We Are ALL FAT" ................... Period! Thanks to American's $Multi-Trillion/Hour Fast Food Restaurants.
Yes, we have a nutritional crisis in this country related to food distribution systems which require preservatives as well as sugary, high-fat foods, all of which are addictive and have shelf lives of months if not years. /// However, targeting children and scaring parents who may already have body image issues resulting from a marriage of Hollywood images and CDC warnings may overreact, thereby causing nutritional deficiencies. This is a dangerous thing to put out there to parents. Simply encourage children to get lots of playtime outside and plenty of fresh, not overproduced, foods.
I'd like to know why we aren't publicly addressing the issues of pesticides and chemicals that act as a hormone in the human body. While as a country we eat too much fast food and watch too much TV, we are also changing the hormonal balance of our children with the dangerous chemicals we are using contributing to the rise in obesity. Cancer and obesity are on the rise and it just isn't because of the American lifestyle, it's also due to the pesticides and chemicals we allow in our food and the environment. Good luck getting someone in Congress to call out the USDA or FDA though...
I try very hard to make healthy food and snacks for my kids. We go over what foods are veggies, which one's are fruit and so on. Junk food and candy are not banned nor overloaded, but taught that we can eat them just every once in a while. I'm happy that their schools go over the same information and encourage outdoor play. However, each one of my kids have different body types....the oldest is too skinny, the middle one is considered obese and the youngest is right in the middle. Children go through so many changes and growth spurts that they'll be puggy one week and then taller and slimmer the next. I wish the weight hype would just settle down....more damage will come if kids are pressured to be at the "perfect wieght".
They chose a bad photo to illustrate this issue. Little babies can be very chubby and healthy, especially if they eat mainly breast milk. Certainly people should be concerned about obesity in young children, but the article should have better explained that chubbiness from drinking formula, juice and sugary drink – especially over age 2, can lead to obesity, but chubbiness in babies under 2 that drink breast milk is healthy and good. Children are growing and they need high fat foods and sugars more than adults. People need to be careful with not giving young children whole milk and high calorie nutritious food because children need that for proper brain growth. The key differerence is not all foods are equal – sugar drinks are very bad while whole milk is good. Not everyone will agree with me on this, but my own child is thin and muscular. She eats plenty of candy and sweets plus of course fruits, veggies and other good food, but she is so active she is very thin. It is important to remember that scientists and doctors still dont understand what makes people obese and a lot of these recommendations are based on statistical studies, not research of individual metabolisms. While obesity is a growing problem and definitely related to eating junk food and no exercise, I worry that parents that read this will stop feeding their children whole milk and other important dietary fats. Children who do not have weight issues, need to eat some high fat food for good development.
I have two boys. My 3.5 year old has been in the >97% for height and weight since he was six months old. His pediatrician said that even though he was red flagged as being "overweight" (according to a computer...), he was proportional. He is now 45" tall and weight about 45 lbs. Still at the top of the percentiles for his age. He has always been active (walking at 9 months), always seems to be "on the go." He doesn't always eat healthy food, but we don't shovel sweets down his throat. We have "junk food" like pizza maybe once every two months. His favorite food is green beans and carrots. He is always asking for second helpings at dinner time, so we give him a second (much smaller) helping. We even got admonished by his pediatrician for not providing 2% milk (we both have intolerances to dairy, so we use skim milk). Never have we worried about him being one of the fat kids.
His 2 year old brother has always hung around the 25% for height and weight. I tried breastfeeding him. After a month of "moderate to severe" jaundice (and two overnights at the hospital for light therapy), the doctors found he had breastfeeding jaundice and we were told to give him soy formula until is 1st birthday. He has always been our munchkin. He, too, was walking at 9 months. He has been trying to keep up with his brother in terms of activity.
He eats the same food we do. He eats most of his first helping.
Their dad is consider overweight if you go by his BMI. That calculation is a joke. His weight comes from muscle mass. He has around 6 – 7% body fat. I (mom) have always been on the low end of normal weight (again, BMI). Growing up, all my overweight friends (and I had a lot of them) would call me too skinny. "Look at your gross, scrawny arms. Get some meat on your bones!" It's sad that society is telling them that a normal weighted person is gross. I shouldn't feel like an outcast because they make poor lifestyle decisions.
Kids should be monitored, but come on. Society is going to extremes. Yes, there are fat people out there. More and more people are becoming overweight. But really, we are already way too involved in every aspect of our kids. I'm not about to be some helicopter parent. All I can do is guide my children to make good decisions... even about food.
There is no doubt that the problem of childhood obesity is largely the result of the poor diet (junk food) and inactivity of today’s youth, and their parents deserve much of the blame for allowing them to engage in such unhealthy behavior.
I’m appalled when I see so many children living on potato chips and soda. I even see parents giving this junk to infants.
I’m also disgusted to see these lazy, spoiled children throw their trash right on the ground, when they’re done eating, without even thinking about it. I blame their parents for this too.
I think looking only at the percentile of weight and height is misleading. My daughter was 9lb 14oz at birth and off the growth charts, she's almost 2 and still off the charts (36" and 34lbs), but her growth curve has followed the chart exactly since birth; I am 5'8" and my husband is 6'3". Diet and exercise are what are really important for young children, as well as the right amount of sleep. We do not have a TV in the living room, watching TV is a treat and reserved for 30 minute segments 3-5 times a week. We encourage her with lots of outdoor play time, lots of reading and drawing and lots of puzzles and toys. We give her a varied diet of lots of veggies, fruit, lean meat, whole grains and milk and yogurt throughout the day in smaller meals with snacks, she still sleeps 12 hours a night with a good nap. We do give treats, but mostly reserve those to for times at the grandparents, so they really are treats, and not a daily occurrence. Parenting can be challenging, but a little work and care now sets them up for life long health.
My son was born at 5 lb 11oz and by the time he was 6 months old (breastfed only) he was over the 100 percentile for weight. He is now 3 1/2 and still at 90% for weight and 50% for height. He does not get fast food, soda, candy etc, I give him veggies, fruit and protein at every meal, he just eats a lot!
It's not always the parents giving the kids junk food, for him (just like his dad) it's his build, he is husky.
Come on everyone seriously, these are kids. I have two polar opposite little girls; my first was born hungry and eats all the time, she has been in the 90th percentile since 2 weeks old but is 3 and wears a 3t and doesn't look fat she is just really really dense. my 2nd is a peanut in the 3rd and 4th percentiles and she ate less as a baby but as a toddler, she matches or eats more than her sister. We give our girls a chance by doing things in moderation, if they want a cookie once a day, we let them as long as they haven't been munching up snacks and not eating any of their meals. We make almost all of our meals at home because it is typically cheaper and healthier but also because eating meals as a family is important. I think the biggest problem in society now is that we are all so busy. We don't always have our children on good schedules for napping and nighttime sleep. Sleep patterns have proven to lead to weight patterns in adults and we would be silly to think it wasn't true with our children. let's give our kids the best chance we can but don't stress out if your babies are a little bigger or smaller then average because it's no big deal. The big issue is those that are actually obese and practice bad habits because their weight won't even off as they grow... I'll hop off the soap box now.
The diet of the mother during pregnancy also has in effect upon the child’s health—for better or worse.
That’s why it is so important for pregnant mothers (and those planning to become pregnant) to take folic acid and to maintain good health habits, such as maintaining good diet, exercise and sleep habits.
Consult with your physician and use the good sense that God gave us!
Parents have GOT to be held accountable!!!!