Mom’s Daily

Everyone loves to coo over fat babies, pinching their cheeks, squeezing their ‘lotus roots’ (fat limbs) and heap praises on the parents. It is time we shift our ideal baby image to a healthy one. The health authorities in the States are now concern with overweight babies.

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) — We may coo over their folds and wrinkles, but today`s infants have too much baby fat for their own good, a new study says. In a 22-year study of thousands of infants and preschool-aged children, the prevalence of overweight rose dramatically — particularly among babies less than 6 months of age. ‘We have a cultural norm where a big baby is a healthy baby,’ said study author Dr. Matthew Gillman, associate professor of ambulatory care and prevention at Harvard University. (full story here)

One of the reasons we have overweight babies that will have problem losing those fats later on in childhood is over feeding. We fatten up the babies with cow’s milk made for calves. Most don’t think of the long term problems but the immediate joy and pride of having ‘healthy’ fat babies.

Most of forum members have expressed their difficulties in breastfeeding because their mothers and mothers-in-law forbade them and look with displeasures when the new moms chosed to fully breastfeed their grandbabies. These older folks are from the generation where their minds have been sold with the ‘fat baby = healthy baby’ advertisement when the alternative feedings hit our shores. I dare say that our local moms are several years behind their compatriots in the developed countries where breastfeeding is the preferred choice. We have a task ahead to educate our mothers and mothers-in-laws on the goodness of breastfeeding.

It is hard to convince our older folks unless they personally have access to news like these:

So what can a new parent do? Start by breastfeeding your baby, Gillman said. Breast milk is associated with lower weight gain in the first year of life. Don`t smoke: The children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy may be heavier, even if they are smaller at birth.

The study isn`t a surprise to Dr. Tamara Hannon, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Weight Management and Wellness Center at Children`s Hospital of Pittsburgh. It doesn`t lay out a strong case for parents to deviate from what they feed their infants, she said. Restricting babies` food intake could actually be detrimental — and even make them gain weight over time, Hannon said.

Instead, parents should rely on ‘basic, sound medicine’: good nutrition and healthy, active lifestyles throughout pregnancy, infancy and childhood, Hannon said.

So, expectant parents, start educating yourselves and your in-laws and parents about the goodness of breastfeeding. In a gist, this is how you can explain to them why alternative feeding is not favourable:

A baby’s stomach is very tiny and hence, pushing in the number of ozs indicated on the tin will cause the baby’s stomach to enlarge and hence, continue to need more food than the baby’s needs. Secondly, the excess alternative milk that goes in will put a load on the baby’s kidneys and other organs to process it. Remember that these alternative milks are not made for the baby but for an animal. Also, each mother’s milk is suitable for only her infant. The breastmilk is tailored just for the baby. Moreover, the mother’s milk has immunity to protect the baby from the germs in the environment the baby grows in. Isn’t that enough reasons to breastfeed?

(P/S : Parents with chubby babies, please don’t take offence with the title because this is just to illustrate the point.)