Baby Fat?

The Beautiful Baby
Do you remember the “Gerber baby”? The cute plump cherub looking baby on the baby food jars? It’s beginning to look like the baby fat was coming from more than baby food. It appears that as children and teenagers have been getting fatter, our babies and toddlers are also dealing with the same issues. While 1 in 10 children, according to a recent article in the NY Times, under age 2 are overweight and the percentage of children ages 2 to 5 who are obese increased to 12.4 percent in 2006 from 5 percent in 1980, there’s a concern that “baby fat” may be just that (not in a good way). More and more evidence points to pivotal events very early in life — during the toddler years, infancy and even before birth, in the womb — that can set young children on an obesity trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they’re in kindergarten. Also new research suggests that interventions aimed at school-aged children may be, if not too little, too late.
So what’s going on? It used to be considered rude to label a child under 5 as overweight or obese, even if the child apparently was, because it might stigmatize the poor kid. The Times reported that “More and more evidence points to pivotal events very early in life — during the toddler years, infancy and even before birth, in the womb — that can set young children on an obesity trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they’re in kindergarten. The evidence is not ironclad, but it suggests that prevention efforts should start very early.”
While it’s easy to point fingers at the obvious things like not smoking (especially during pregnancy), not letting your baby be baby sat by the TV, and not letting your baby’s diet revolve around formula and processed foods, the issue really comes down to us, doesn’t it? Don’t we have to do the best for ourselves so we can model what is best for our children? Let’s educate ourselves so we know what is best for our families and then have the courage to take a stand for our kids.

LouAnn Good
Fitness Together Fort Myers