How should your babies grow?
New growth charts could push more kids into obese category.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidelines showing how babies should ideally grow. Controversially, the new charts mean that more children in Western countries could be labelled as overweight.
Read the story here.
Comments
As a breastfeeding counsellor with the UK based charity, The National Childbirth Trust, I welcome these growth charts for breastfed babies. Many mothers suffer real stress and worry that their babies are not putting on enough weight in the early days and weeks of breastfeeding when their babies weight is compared to the growth charts currently in use based on bottlefed babies growth. If the new growth charts based on the growth of breastfed babies are used then this may serve to reassure these mothers that their babies are growing normally and that they can continue to breastfeed instead of giving formula.
Posted by: June Petty | April 27, 2006 02:29 PM
Anything that helps focus attention on the positive benefits of breast-feeding is an advance. I'm pleased to see that such a study has been completed and hope it raises awareness about the issues involved. Breast-feeding should be encouraged as far as possible, and this study should relieve some of the pressure breast-feeding mothers feel. We were repeatedly advised to feed our baby more as he was at the 9th percentile by weight for several months. I'd be interested to see how his growth curve compare to the babies in this study.
Posted by: D Field | May 2, 2006 10:12 PM