Children who are bottle-fed for too long are at risk of obesity as early as the age of 5, warn US scientists in the Journal of Pediatrics.
The authors of the research emphasize that limiting the time of feeding babies with a bottle to the early-infancy period should significantly help in preventing obesity.
Experts agree that treating childhood obesity should begin before the kids go to school. Unfortunately, they often don’t have clear, simple rules and advice for parents.
Dr. Robert Whitaker and Rachel Gooze of Temple University, in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Anderson of Ohio State University College of Public Health, analyzed the medical history of 6750 children. They investigated the effect of prolonged use of a baby feeding bottle on the risk of obesity.
Among the surveyed group, 22 percent. of toddlers at the age of 2 still used the baby bottle as the main drinking vessel or she was put to sleep with the bottle. As much as 23 percent. of these children, 5,5 years of age, were obese.
Drinking from the bottle after infancy can contribute to obesity mainly by getting your baby used to eating too many calories. As the authors explain, a 2-year-old child put to bed with a 200-gram bottle full of milk gets about 12 percent. the calories it should eat during the day; meanwhile, the bedtime milk bottle is usually only an addition to the daily food.
The researchers add that bottle-feeding younger babies (under 12 months of age) does not cause any harm, and suggest that pediatricians and parents work together to wean babies from the bottle before the baby’s first birthday. (PAP)