I think obesity is more of an issue of parents not knowing, or caring, what foods they give their children. You can eat lots of food and get your nutrition without being overweight, but you have to eat good foods.
We took a baby led weaning approach with our son. We are not purists as we often offer him things from our own hands or off a spoon, but in general we skipped purees and he eats what we eat as long as it can be safely gummed. Obesity was not why we choose this approach at all, our baby has been a tall string bean since birth. We decided on this approach becasue it makes feeding him WAY EASIER!! He learned to chew his food quickly, it took a couple weeks and he could move food around in his mouth like a seasoned expert, and he eats pretty much anything. Were ever we are eating we can offer him something and let him do most of the work. Mom and dad both get to sit and eat our own dinner with minimal interference and he's only 8 months old. When we are with our family everyone is amazed at what he is eating. I can't imagine doing it any other way with any future babies we may have.
OUpsychChick I second this. Letting baby pick up and chew is way easier than spoon feeding every bite as they turn their head every possible direction. Just offer healthy choices and baby serving size. Done and done.
FYI, I leave open food for my dogs. The bowl is always full of dry dog food. They eat as much as they want, when they want to. None of them are overweight. Of course, we also don't give them "treats" or people food so that might have more to do with it.
I did the same when I had dogs. I did sometimes give them (dog) treats, but rarely, and they NEVER got people food. I no longer have my dogs, but we have two ferrets. Again, they have kibble available 24/7. Again, they also get (ferret-appropriate) treats. They wouldn't eat "people food" even if we offered it to them. Both are in good shape. One was underweight when we bought them, and is now at the top end of healthy weight. I know this isn't possible with all animals; I don't know what causes some to wolf down all available food. But it's highly inaccurate to say that all pets will overconsume on their own.
I did baby led weaning, but we still chose when, what, and how much to feed. I think most parents do this regardless of feeding method. Anecdotally, my son has never been much of an eater. He'd much rather play and I have to remind him to eat something.
I hope they do a followup with those babies as they age. I would think that less fussiness would result in children/teens/adults eating healthier foods, which might help them be healthier overall later in life.
Firstly, I am surprised that studies are still using body mass index as a metric of anything, especially for kids. In clinical practice or real life, body mass index is ignored in kids as per my daughter's pediatrician. There was a time when there was concern over her lack of weight gain and her off the charts weight, especially as she was born prematurely and her development was delayed. The pediatrician clearly said we don't look at BMI, rather we look at trends. (This was in the past year to 2 years.) Secondly, I wonder if we are doing more harm than good by excessively focusing on weights of otherwise healthy children and then intervening. Dieting in adults doesn't show good results long term. Often enough it raises the natural set point of an adult. Why do we think it would do better for kids? Maybe the issue is exactly that: we are intervening too fast without any solid science and thus making things worse. Also, as a parent have you ever watched your young children eat? I generally follow Ellyn Satter's division of responsibility. It is very beautiful to see how my kids definitely stop when they are full, even foods they really enjoy. Humans who pay attention to their signals can, and do, stop when they are full and want no more, and that definitely includes kids, even young kids. Have you ever come across solid evidence that weight, specifically, is the cause of all the diseases we think that it does? Or are they correlations and we may be just barking up the wrong tree? I really hope for the day when I won't have to worry about my daughters facing weight bias in life and specifically not from health care providers.
you have food close by that they can pick up with their hands that's soft enough for them to chew without teeth but unlikely to choke them (e.g not whole grapes). I'm no expert on what foods those would be but that's a good place to start your search. The idea is that the baby is motivated to test foods on their own anyway so your job is to put safe options in front of them and leave them to it.
Our toddler (2Y3M) is still on the right weight curve. She comes from 1/2 obesity (but HIGH muscle mass), 1/4 "medium" to "slightly" overweight, and 1/4 unknown (he died young - he wasn't overweight at death in his early 20s) grandparents. Both parents technically obese, but father is just barely. She eats until she's not interested - which can be twice what Mommy eats (far less than Dad) in a meal, to a few bites - and is doing VERY well. Plus: she eats EVERYTHING most days. Including having cucumbers, peas, salsa (pico de gallo - even with a smattering of jalapenos!), blueberries, and broccoli as a few of her favorite foods, along with an intense like for chicken, beef, pork , shrimp, and cheese - even stinky cheeses like bleu and gorgonzola. She also likes chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, fruit snacks, apple sauce, and graham crackers/goldfish most days. And she really likes (most days) quite spicy (salsa, curry, buffalo chicken), sour (pickled veg and kraut and MILD kimchi), and complexly spiced foods (mild Thai and Mexican and Indian and Japanese flavours) - except fish. She's simply not a fan of fish; from grilled shark fillet, to maguro or salmon or fake crab sushi, to canned tuna with or w/o mayo, to cheapie "white" or better "cod" or "halibut" fish sticks/fried fillets, she's just NOT a fan. We never did jarred baby food, save a few times (less than 6, which we got from our baby shower and donated the unused ones), and did maybe 5 or 6 weeks including occasional "baby" "cereal" mush - she did not love it. She had her first solid food at 3 months - avocado, followed swiftly by things like kalbi beef - because she was ready and WANTING... and THANK GOD, has no allergies we know of except pollen. I intentionally went out while pregnant with gestational (none now, despite my weight) diabetes to get ALL THE FLAVORS I liked at all - and a few I don't - in hopes of giving her this varied palette. I hope it remains, and gives her an avenue to stay at a healthy weight: eat just enough of what you like, but pick and choose, and don't overeat because of other reasons.
Why is it black and white fallacies ,and really not seen as per child need? It is also what one feeds kids not only how much. Some kids are over weight and some kids need more than others in general.
I found my two-year old sitting in front of the open door of the basement freezer with a pair of scissors, opening the packages of Dove treats. He would cut open the wrapper, eat as much of the ice cream roll as he wanted (about the size of a Hoho) then pull another one out of the box and open that one. By the time I caught him, he was surrounded by empty wrappers and had three or four separate ice creams that he was nibbling on.
I would baby led wean with all my future children. We did it because I wanted to limit choking hazards. Both my kids are hardy eaters. They eat what we eat when we eat. I don’t have to worry about buying stupid baby food or making something special.
"Anyone who owns a pet knows not to leave them with an open food supply ..." I know no such thing. I have always left dry food out for my cats, and they do fine. No weight problem. If I were leaving out yummy taste treats, things would probably be different. I do more or less the same thing with myself. I don't have pizza, chocolate eclairs, and ice cream around the house. What I do have around is good, healthy food, and I eat as much as I want (which is a LOT). An extra helping of beans and broccoli is not going to make you fat. I suspect that if we were feeding babies the right foods, they wouldn't overeat.
I don't think obesity is a big worry when your baby is only just eating solid foods. I get that we want to promote healthy eating and establish good patterns in childhood, but babies are fat and they eat a lot. If your toddler is overweight according to your physician and is only eating solid foods then yeah, okay, cut down on cake and french fries. But some common sense has to be applied, right?
Yeah, I've read in the past that baby fat (like the typical baby podge belly) is 100% normal and a good thing. But does the evidence bear this out? Would be nice to know.
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I think obesity is more of an issue of parents not knowing, or caring, what foods they give their children. You can eat lots of food and get your nutrition without being overweight, but you have to eat good foods.
We took a baby led weaning approach with our son. We are not purists as we often offer him things from our own hands or off a spoon, but in general we skipped purees and he eats what we eat as long as it can be safely gummed. Obesity was not why we choose this approach at all, our baby has been a tall string bean since birth. We decided on this approach becasue it makes feeding him WAY EASIER!! He learned to chew his food quickly, it took a couple weeks and he could move food around in his mouth like a seasoned expert, and he eats pretty much anything. Were ever we are eating we can offer him something and let him do most of the work. Mom and dad both get to sit and eat our own dinner with minimal interference and he's only 8 months old. When we are with our family everyone is amazed at what he is eating. I can't imagine doing it any other way with any future babies we may have.
OUpsychChick I second this. Letting baby pick up and chew is way easier than spoon feeding every bite as they turn their head every possible direction. Just offer healthy choices and baby serving size. Done and done.
My baby is willing to eat me, he always tries it. I hope it's just a weird phase
Update?
FYI, I leave open food for my dogs. The bowl is always full of dry dog food. They eat as much as they want, when they want to. None of them are overweight. Of course, we also don't give them "treats" or people food so that might have more to do with it.
I did the same when I had dogs. I did sometimes give them (dog) treats, but rarely, and they NEVER got people food. I no longer have my dogs, but we have two ferrets. Again, they have kibble available 24/7. Again, they also get (ferret-appropriate) treats. They wouldn't eat "people food" even if we offered it to them. Both are in good shape. One was underweight when we bought them, and is now at the top end of healthy weight. I know this isn't possible with all animals; I don't know what causes some to wolf down all available food. But it's highly inaccurate to say that all pets will overconsume on their own.
I did baby led weaning, but we still chose when, what, and how much to feed. I think most parents do this regardless of feeding method. Anecdotally, my son has never been much of an eater. He'd much rather play and I have to remind him to eat something.
I hope they do a followup with those babies as they age. I would think that less fussiness would result in children/teens/adults eating healthier foods, which might help them be healthier overall later in life.
Honestly baby lead weaning is the best the sole reason of less purée on my walls.
Just more food all over baby 😂
Firstly, I am surprised that studies are still using body mass index as a metric of anything, especially for kids. In clinical practice or real life, body mass index is ignored in kids as per my daughter's pediatrician. There was a time when there was concern over her lack of weight gain and her off the charts weight, especially as she was born prematurely and her development was delayed. The pediatrician clearly said we don't look at BMI, rather we look at trends. (This was in the past year to 2 years.)
Secondly, I wonder if we are doing more harm than good by excessively focusing on weights of otherwise healthy children and then intervening. Dieting in adults doesn't show good results long term. Often enough it raises the natural set point of an adult. Why do we think it would do better for kids? Maybe the issue is exactly that: we are intervening too fast without any solid science and thus making things worse.
Also, as a parent have you ever watched your young children eat? I generally follow Ellyn Satter's division of responsibility. It is very beautiful to see how my kids definitely stop when they are full, even foods they really enjoy. Humans who pay attention to their signals can, and do, stop when they are full and want no more, and that definitely includes kids, even young kids.
Have you ever come across solid evidence that weight, specifically, is the cause of all the diseases we think that it does? Or are they correlations and we may be just barking up the wrong tree? I really hope for the day when I won't have to worry about my daughters facing weight bias in life and specifically not from health care providers.
Love the topic, bay led weaning worked great with our twins
Not satisfying, but an answer none the less...
What IS baby led weaning? The video doesn’t cover that.
How does it work, and what resources are available to help me with it?
you have food close by that they can pick up with their hands that's soft enough for them to chew without teeth but unlikely to choke them (e.g not whole grapes). I'm no expert on what foods those would be but that's a good place to start your search. The idea is that the baby is motivated to test foods on their own anyway so your job is to put safe options in front of them and leave them to it.
Our toddler (2Y3M) is still on the right weight curve. She comes from 1/2 obesity (but HIGH muscle mass), 1/4 "medium" to "slightly" overweight, and 1/4 unknown (he died young - he wasn't overweight at death in his early 20s) grandparents. Both parents technically obese, but father is just barely. She eats until she's not interested - which can be twice what Mommy eats (far less than Dad) in a meal, to a few bites - and is doing VERY well. Plus: she eats EVERYTHING most days. Including having cucumbers, peas, salsa (pico de gallo - even with a smattering of jalapenos!), blueberries, and broccoli as a few of her favorite foods, along with an intense like for chicken, beef, pork , shrimp, and cheese - even stinky cheeses like bleu and gorgonzola. She also likes chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, fruit snacks, apple sauce, and graham crackers/goldfish most days. And she really likes (most days) quite spicy (salsa, curry, buffalo chicken), sour (pickled veg and kraut and MILD kimchi), and complexly spiced foods (mild Thai and Mexican and Indian and Japanese flavours) - except fish. She's simply not a fan of fish; from grilled shark fillet, to maguro or salmon or fake crab sushi, to canned tuna with or w/o mayo, to cheapie "white" or better "cod" or "halibut" fish sticks/fried fillets, she's just NOT a fan. We never did jarred baby food, save a few times (less than 6, which we got from our baby shower and donated the unused ones), and did maybe 5 or 6 weeks including occasional "baby" "cereal" mush - she did not love it. She had her first solid food at 3 months - avocado, followed swiftly by things like kalbi beef - because she was ready and WANTING... and THANK GOD, has no allergies we know of except pollen. I intentionally went out while pregnant with gestational (none now, despite my weight) diabetes to get ALL THE FLAVORS I liked at all - and a few I don't - in hopes of giving her this varied palette. I hope it remains, and gives her an avenue to stay at a healthy weight: eat just enough of what you like, but pick and choose, and don't overeat because of other reasons.
do a series on fitness.
we did this with our very independent son. He is not overweight but he is very picky.
Thanks for addressing this. I wonder if exposure to this information can help parents relax at all?
"Babies aren't going to solve it for us..." I laughed aloud.
I appreciate you sir.
Sensational tube video
Why is it black and white fallacies ,and really not seen as per child need? It is also what one feeds kids not only how much. Some kids are over weight and some kids need more than others in general.
I found my two-year old sitting in front of the open door of the basement freezer with a pair of scissors, opening the packages of Dove treats. He would cut open the wrapper, eat as much of the ice cream roll as he wanted (about the size of a Hoho) then pull another one out of the box and open that one. By the time I caught him, he was surrounded by empty wrappers and had three or four separate ice creams that he was nibbling on.
I would baby led wean with all my future children. We did it because I wanted to limit choking hazards. Both my kids are hardy eaters. They eat what we eat when we eat. I don’t have to worry about buying stupid baby food or making something special.
definetly interesting
ihartevil : which problem? Childhood obesity? America isn't the only one, we're not even the worst off anymore
"Anyone who owns a pet knows not to leave them with an open food supply ..."
I know no such thing. I have always left dry food out for my cats, and they do fine. No weight problem. If I were leaving out yummy taste treats, things would probably be different.
I do more or less the same thing with myself. I don't have pizza, chocolate eclairs, and ice cream around the house. What I do have around is good, healthy food, and I eat as much as I want (which is a LOT). An extra helping of beans and broccoli is not going to make you fat.
I suspect that if we were feeding babies the right foods, they wouldn't overeat.
I did BLW, and my kid is soooo picky. A 1-year-old who doesn’t like cheese or meat. Sigh
pica-the craving for indigestible food
It's not just babies, it seems. Obesity is rising all over the world in adults.
I don't think obesity is a big worry when your baby is only just eating solid foods. I get that we want to promote healthy eating and establish good patterns in childhood, but babies are fat and they eat a lot. If your toddler is overweight according to your physician and is only eating solid foods then yeah, okay, cut down on cake and french fries. But some common sense has to be applied, right?
Yeah, I've read in the past that baby fat (like the typical baby podge belly) is 100% normal and a good thing. But does the evidence bear this out? Would be nice to know.
first!
(edit 3rd)