Colombia’s Most Obese Baby Weighing 44-Pounds Rescued by Charity for Treatment

An eight-month old baby from Columbia weighing 44 pounds, equivalent to the weight of a six-year-old, has been rescued by a charity organization.

According to the growth charts from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the eight-month-old boy named Santiago Mendoza weighs more than double the median weight for babies his age.  His morbid heaviness puts the baby at severe health risk.

 The excess folds of fat made it difficult for the baby to move about forcing his mother to seek medical intervention, the Associated Press reports.

His mother, Eunice Fandino, sought help from The Chubby Hearts Foundation. He was shifted from his home in the northeastern city of Valledupur to the capital Bogota, Sunday, where he will undergo treatment. Chubby Hearts fights obesity among youth.

Baby Santiago was hospitalized on several occasions in his short life as he suffered from medical complications. The mother accepted the blame for her son's condition. She said that every time he cried she fed him.

"He was born with an anxiety, so if he cried I just fed him," said the mother whose ignorance has put the eight-month-old at risk. She also confessed that at times she was embarrassed to take her son out.

"I'm worried about his obesity," Fandino said in an interview with RCN Television. "I don't want him to continue like this so, God willing, the treatment they're going to give him for his heart will work to reduce his weight."

 The boy may need to undergo a few operations that will help cut down his heavy weight.

The director of Chubby Hearts, Salvador Palacio Gonzalez, said that the boy needed long-term treatment, education, healthy food and a lot of physical activity as he grows older. Else, the downside of it is that he would suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and also joint problems later, according to Mirror.Co.

The mother has promised to abide by the doctors' instructions to give him healthy food.