A New Obesity Risk for Your Baby

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

30 Jul 2008 05:24 AM

We all want our babies to be healthy. Getting your little one off on the road to healthy living starts right from the beginning in babyhood. An overweight baby often leads to an overweight child which leads to an overweight adult. And now scientists have discovered a new obesity risk that may affect your baby. I'll talk about what that risk is and how you can reduce the chances that your baby will become overweight.

First let me say that I absolutely love chubby babies. It must be the Italian American in me, but extra rolls of fat in a little thigh just makes me smile and want to pinch them (gently of course). When I was growing up in the neighborhood (in NYC), proud mothers would show off how fat their babies were. A fat baby was generally equated with good health and an attentive mother. This was also the time that babies were given solid foods at four weeks, which we now know is a no-no.

While babies do need a healthy does of extra fat to be able to grow and develop, there are more and more babies that are becoming overweight children.

In a report published by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the amount a child sleeps in the first two years of life can be more likely to become overweight by age three. The study found, in fact, that babies who slept less than 12 hours a day during those first two years carried twice the risk of becoming overweight children as did their peers who got more sleep.

What is the explanation for this? The researchers postulate that the amount of sleep that your child gets can affect her hormone levels. These hormones then in turn affect appetite. So in other words, a lack of sleep might lead to more than a cranky baby but could actually affect her long term health.

Interesting, isn't it?

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

More Great Articles:

My Obsession with Baby Feet

Free Baby Formula

Dealing with Old Fashioned Baby Advice

Baby's Gender Linked to Diet

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger