Does my baby weigh too much?
OVERWEIGHT: PREVENTION IN INFANTS
DEFINITION
An overweight baby is one with a weight gain far out of
proportion to height gain. An overweight baby looks fat.
Such- a baby is not necessarily a healthy one. The infants
who continue to be overweight as children and adults
usually have parents, siblings, or grandparents who are
overweight. Any infant with a strong family tendency
toward obesity needs help. Overfeeding teaches a child
to overeat. Some physicians wait until such a child shows
signs of being overweight before making any alterations
in the diet, but prevention is easier than treatment.
DIETARY PRECAUTIONS TO PREVENT
AN EXCESSIVE WEIGHT GAIN IN
INFANTS
If someone in your family has a problem with easy weight
gain, consider the following dietary precautions to pre-
vent your baby from becoming overweight. If your child
is already overweight, these guidelines will also be help-
ful. The goal for growing children is always slowing the
rate of weight gain (not weight loss).
- From the beginning, try to teach your child to stop
eating before she reaches a point of satiation. Help
her stop before she has a sense of complete fullness
and a reluctance to eat another bite. When she
closes her mouth, turns her head, or wants to play,
she’s losing interest in feeding.
- Try to breast-feed. Breast-fed babies tend to be lighter
in weight.
-If you are breast-feeding, avoid grazing. Grazing is
nursing at frequent intervals, sometimes hourly.
Such infants learn to eat when they are upset and
to use food as a stress reliever.
- If you are bottle-feeding, don’t allow your child to
keep a bottle as a companion during the day or
night. Children who are allowed to carry a bottle
around with them learn to eat frequently and use
food as a comforting device.
- Don’t feed your baby every time he cries. Most crying
babies want to be held and cuddled or may be
thirsty and just need some water.
-Also teach your infant to use human contact (rather
than food) to relieve stress and discomfort.
- Don’t assume a sucking baby is hungry. Your baby
may just want a pacifier or help with finding her
thumb. Also, don’t use teething biscuits or other
foods in place of a teething ring.
-Don’t insist that your baby finish every bottle. Unless
your baby is underweight, he knows how much for-
mula he needs.
- Don’t enlarge the hole in the nipple of a baby bottle.
The formula will come out of the bottle too fast.
- Feed your infant no more often than every 2 hours at
birth and no more often than every 3 hours from 2
to 6 months of age.
- Feed your child slowly rather than rapidly. Don’t do
anything to hurry your child’s pace of eating. It takes
15 to 20 minutes for the sensation of fullness to
develop. The rapid-eating habit in adults has been
associated with obestity.
-Avoid solids until your child is 4 months old (6 months
old in breast-fed babies).
-Change to three meals daily by 6 months of age.
-Don’t insist that your child clean his plate or finish a
jar of baby food.
-Don’t encourage your child to eat more after she sig-
nals she is full, by turning her head or not opening
her mouth.
-Discontinue breast- and bottle-feeding by 12 months
of age. A recent study found that
delayed weaning was associated with more obesity.
-Avoid sweets until at least 12 months of age.
-Don’t give your child food as a way to distract him or
keep him occupied. Instead, give him something to
play with when you need some free time.
- Use praise and physical contact instead of food as a
reward for good behavior.
CAUTION: Also don’t underfeed your infant. Don’t
put your baby on low fat milk or skim milk before 2 years
of age. Your baby’s brain is growing rapidly and needs
the fat content of whole milk. While overfeeding is more
common than underfeeding in infancy, underfeeding is
more harmful.
