Chubby Babies May Become Obese Children

First Few Months May Be Weight Regulation Period

Chubby babies don't necessarily grow lean as they get older, according to a new study.

Rapid rates of weight gain during infancy could be linked to obesity later in childhood, report researchers in the February issue of Pediatrics.

Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that rapid weight gain during the first four months of life was significantly associated with an increased risk of being overweight at age 7, regardless of birth weight and weight at 1 year of age.

"Early infancy seems to be a critical period for the establishment of obesity," said Dr. Nicolas Stettler, a pediatric nutrition specialist at Children's Hospital and lead investigator of the study.

"Babies double their birth weight during the first four to six months, so this may be a period for the establishment of weight regulation," Stettler said.

The study looked at data for 19,000 children who were born between 1959 and 1965 in 12 U.S. cities. Researchers found that with even a modest increase in weight gain of 100 extra grams per month during infancy, the risk of being overweight at age 7 was raised by more than 25 percent.

Recommendations for feeding have changed since the 1960s, when children were introduced to solid foods at an earlier age, which could explain some of the weight gain seen in the study.

In the past, infancy has not been targeted for obesity prevention, and at this time there are no effective and safe intervention strategies in infancy for the prevention of later obesity.

The researchers make no recommendations for treatment, but they suggest that a focus on early infancy may lead to new ideas about the origins of childhood obesity and to new approaches to preventing obesity during infancy.

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