Infant Feeding Linked to Obesity in Infants at 24 months

Parents love to encourage their kids to finish their entire meal or drink the full bottle of milk as soon as possible. What they tend to be ignorant of is the fact that this tactic could be fuelling the epidemic of childhood obesity.

In a study conducted by Brigham Young University, sociology professors Ben Gibbs and Renata Forste noticed a strong association between obesity at 2 years of age and infant feeding.

"If you are overweight at age two, it puts you on a trajectory where you are likely to be overweight into middle childhood and adolescence and as an adult," said Forste in a press statement. "That's a big concern.

For this study, the researchers analyzed data of more than 80,00 families and noticed that babies who were fed formula were 2.5 times more likely to become obese toddlers when compared to those babies who were breast-fed for the first six months. The researchers state that this pattern is not just about breast-feeding.

According to Gibbs, there are a bunch of infant feeding patterns that promote and encourage obesity during childhood.

The risk of childhood obesity increased to 36 percent when parents put the babies to bed with a bottle. Introducing the children too early to solid food i.e., before 4 months of age, increased their risk of obesity by nearly 40 percent.

"Developing this pattern of needing to eat before you go to sleep, those kinds of things discourage children from monitoring their own eating patterns so they can self-regulate," Forste said in a press statement. "The nature of breastfeeding lends itself to helping babies recognize when they feel full and should stop. But that same kind of skill can be developed by formula-fed infants."

When parents notice their kids pushing away food, they should avoid encouraging them to complete the meal or finish the whole bottle.

Public health professor at Columbia University Sally Findley states that this study highlights the fact that infant feeding practices are the basic reason for childhood obesity to hit the hardest below the poverty line.

The study was published in the journal Pediatric Obesity.