If your baby is not fashionably slim, you may be wondering whether it’s your fault. Is it true that kids grow fat because they constantly reach for, or are given, a bigger slice of cake? Or is it that their bodies burn up food more slowly than their lean brothers and sisters?
Research in a prestigious UK medical journal shows that fat babies don’t eat more than thin babies but that they are less active, and so burn off fewer calories.
The research shows that fat and thin babies burned the same amount of energy when they were asleep, provided that their basic metabolisms were the same.
When awake, even at three months, the slim babies were livelier. Does early metabolism get set in some way, so that it predisposes towards fatness in later life and to certain kinds of health problems such as heart disease?
Certainly there is evidence to suggest that fat kids become fat adults. It is estimated that 30 to 40 per cent of children are overweight, and remain so into adulthood. The longer a child stays too heavy, the harder it is for her to slim down. The older a child is, the more difficult it is to crack.
Fight the flab
Experts consider a child to be overweight if she is more than 20 per cent over the expected weight for her height and sex. A rough guide as to whether or not your child is too chubby is if she fits clothes designed for her age group. Bear in mind that the sizes of children’s clothes vary wildly but if you are consistently going for clothes a year or two older than your child, she could be overweight. Another way to detect is to see how much skin you can pinch on her upper arm or shoulder blade. More than an inch and she could be too fat.
Sensible eating guide
• Get off to a good start by breast-feeding if possible. Breast-milk contains fewer calories than artificial baby milks.
• Once your child is on solids, go for a health diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, brown bread, potatoes, lean meat and fish.
• Cut down on the amount of hard fats such as butter and animal fat that your family eats but don’t give a child under five years skimmed milk because she could miss out on vital nutrients. So long as your child is enjoying a well-balanced diet, she can have semi-skimmed milk from the age of two.
• Avoid special diet foods, as they encourage your child to keep her taste for sweet foods. Try to encourage her to develop a liking for healthy, natural foods, such as fruit juice rather than fruit squash. In fact, water is the best drink.
• Encourage your child to be active by doing things with her. Take her to swimming, go out for bike rides together, or have a walk after Sunday lunch instead of slumping in front of the television.
• If your child is seriously overweight see the doctor who may suggest keeping a diary or start chart to help your child stick to a sensible diet.
• Serve meals on a smaller plate to make the portions look larger.
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