bsheets
Sat, Aug-25-07, 21:09
Chart linked to fat kids
Suellen Hinde
August 19, 2007
A CHART used to check whether babies are the right weight is being revised amid concerns it leads to overfeeding and obesity.
Victorian health practitioners have been using the 1977 growth chart based on the weight gain of babies given formula milk -- which is faster than those being breastfed.
Child health doctors fear the 30-year-old advice is being used to pressure some mothers into overfeeding because the chart shows their breastfed babies are "failing to thrive".
There are fears overfeeding in infancy causes health woes in later life.
The World Health Organisation has developed a growth chart based on babies being breastfed.
An Australia Government parliamentary inquiry into breastfeeding recently recommended the WHO chart be adopted across the nation, a call backed by the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
It is estimated the new chart could redefine a quarter of all Australian babies as being heavier than the norm.
Under the 1977 chart, a healthy one-year-old should have weighed between 10.2kg and 12.9kg. The new WHO chart says the ideal range is from 9.5kg to 11.79kg.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22268112-24331,00.html
Suellen Hinde
August 19, 2007
A CHART used to check whether babies are the right weight is being revised amid concerns it leads to overfeeding and obesity.
Victorian health practitioners have been using the 1977 growth chart based on the weight gain of babies given formula milk -- which is faster than those being breastfed.
Child health doctors fear the 30-year-old advice is being used to pressure some mothers into overfeeding because the chart shows their breastfed babies are "failing to thrive".
There are fears overfeeding in infancy causes health woes in later life.
The World Health Organisation has developed a growth chart based on babies being breastfed.
An Australia Government parliamentary inquiry into breastfeeding recently recommended the WHO chart be adopted across the nation, a call backed by the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
It is estimated the new chart could redefine a quarter of all Australian babies as being heavier than the norm.
Under the 1977 chart, a healthy one-year-old should have weighed between 10.2kg and 12.9kg. The new WHO chart says the ideal range is from 9.5kg to 11.79kg.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22268112-24331,00.html