Hi Everyone,
There was an article in several papers this morning stating that growth charts may bear a lot of responsibility for the rise in childhood obesity. As someone who is greatly concerned by this topic I found the article very interesting.
It's generally known that bottle fed babies usually gain weight faster than breast fed babies, and many breastfeeding mums I speak to are concerned that baby is not eating enough and may be underweight. If baby is not at the expected weight for their age it can be worrying and may lead to some mums switching from breast to bottle. That's a shame as we know that in most cases breastfeeding is the best option for the child (and it's free). Well it now seems that the predicted weight charts are based on the expected weight gain for bottle fed babies, and that with the current big push towards breastfeeding, these charts are outdated and leading to overfeeding. This can be carried over into childhood and later life as overweight babies have a much greater risk of becoming overweight adults.
Daily Telegraph 14/08/2007
Parents have been overfeeding their babies for a generation because of inaccurate growth charts, according to experts. Charts used by health visitors and GPs are based on bottle-fed babies and encourage the rapid weight gain that has fuelled the childhood obesity epidemic, as overweight babies are more likely to be overweight later in life. New charts, which were issued by the World Health Organisation 18 months ago, reflect the slower growth pattern of breast-fed babies, and about 20 per cent of babies will be classed as overweight under the new system.
I hope this stops a lot of mums worrying about their babies weight. Unless there are specified problems, baby will eat when they are hungry and stop when they are finished. We could all learn from that!
Healthy Regards
