From The Sunday Times
London, UK
3 May, 2009


‘Feeding up’ of babies to be curbed

THOUSANDS of obese and overweight babies, fattened by mothers on medical advice, are to be identified by National Health Service charts.

Health experts say the growth measurements, introduced at the start of this month, should end the “severe cultural problem” of encouraging babies to put on a lot of weight too quickly.

For the first time the tables, drawn up by the World Health Organisation, are based entirely on the rate of growth of breastfed babies, which tend to put on weight more slowly than those given formula milk in their first year.

The figures used until now have been based mainly on formula-fed babies. This has meant breastfeeding mothers have been wrongly told to “feed up” their infants, putting them at risk of obesity. This problem afflicts many bottle-fed babies.


The article continues here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/li...icle6211496.ece

Well, that does make sense. For once the medical establishment is going in the right direction!

When my two were babies, you wouldn't believe the pressure that people put me under to bottle feed them. Surprisingly though my pediatricians were more sensible about it.

They're right about breast feeding over bottle feeding, but I'm not so sure the idea of restricting calories for babies is good. I've seen many fat babies who turn into skinny kids. Is there any scientific evidence that shows fat babies turn into fat kids or fat adults? I doubt it. Seems like more speculation to me.

I too would welcome this, but it needs to be tied to better education of health visitors. They seem to have a rule that all children need to be above 50th percentile on the growth charts, and for example there was a lot of concern when my own daughter plummeted from 51st to 49th percentile - seriously it was considered really bad and steps were going to have to be taken. Now she's 95th percentile it's considered fabulous.

Similarly I have a friend whose 2 year old son is below the 10th percentile - but his dad is tiny, less than 5ft 6 and slight of build, and his mom is normal build and a similar height - how else is he supposed to turn out? Yet mom was really scrutinised.

Basic math dictates that half of all children will be below average in size ... I've tried explaining that but it all fell on deaf ears.

I've experienced this attitide in totally different parts of the UK so it's not just something to do with one team or a few ignorant members of staff.

My friends were always shoving bottles in their babies mouths even when it seemed like they were really hungry. I didn't think that was right.

when i had my twins, lizard1 was always around 50th percentile, and lizard2 was always about 10 - 15 points below him. the doctor never had any problems with that. considering that their birth weights were well in the normal range for even singletons, the doctor said that as long as they showed steady growth, their percentiles didn't matter. there was only one visit where lizard2 measured higher than lizard1, but the doctor chalked it up to a growth spurt. both were breastfed until they were about 6½ - 7 months old, and then we did a gradual switch to formula.

i could understand getting worried if a baby went from 75th percentile to 30th in one visit, but when will the medical community realize that babies don't listen to charts?

I've just been reading a 1904 book by Fannie Farmer, Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent. The section on nutrition was written by an MD. He says that babies, on average, will double their birth weight by 5 months, and triple it by 15 months.

This was when breastfeeding was still the norm, and it's somewhat different from the current advice. We're now told that babies should double their birth weight by 6 months, and triple it by 12 months. My children (all breastfed) followed the earlier pattern; they gained a lot early on, but slowed down toward the end of the first year. I think this is pretty typical.

Fortunately, their doctors weren't concerned -- but I do know families who were told to stuff their perfectly healthy 12-month-olds with bacon, sour cream, and avocadoes, to to increase their weight gain to what the charts recommended.

My sister's three kids were all as round and roly-poly as little butterballs when they were babies - the kind of baby whose cheek or thigh you longed to pinch. And now in their 20s they are all long and lanky.

My daughter was 10 lbs 10 oz when she was born. When she dropped from the 90th%ile to the 75th%ile, the young doctor diagnosed her with failure to thrive due to neglect. I had to fight to have that taken off her chart, I was so angry. Breastfeeding advocates also point out how breastfed babies can often be much bigger than formula fed babies and that is OK, too. They tend to gain faster at the beginner and then are smaller by the second half of the first year.

funny, I have been under intense pressure to BreastFeed mine. MMAAAAJJJJOOORRRR guilt. Some people make it seem akin to abuse if I use formula. Hey, take on look at my kids and you know its not the case. Nary an ear infection and both thriving. The wee one does get a bottle too much, because she wakes up ten times a night and needs it to go to back down. And yah, shes a little chubster, but its all in her belly, and I think shes heading for a growth spurt, even though shes walking all the time. But the first one, I fear sometimes shes underweight!

You just cant tell with kids. They will take what they need naturally, you cant force it.

I cant imagine giving my baby bacon or sour cream; avocado yes, its full of nutritition. They need fat in their diet, sure, but theres such a thing as too much! I have been known to give her whipped cream as a treat, though, not as part of her basic food. lots of fruits and veggies and cheeses. and yes, carbs-shes burning them as soon as she puts them in.

Hey, I was always a skinny baby and a skinny kid. My doctor was forever accusing my mom of not feeding me, and telling her I looked like a starvation victim. Even as late as age 11, as in this picture, I was still pretty skinny.



But look how I wound up. When I hit 30 I began suddenly gaining weight like there was no tomorrow. So being skinny as a kid or baby is no guarantee of anything anyway