New
parents are pleased when their baby gains weight as expected, but if the rate
of concerned about their
child's future size.
New research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol shows that
most babies who are slow to put on weight in the first nine months of life have
caught up to within the normal range by the age of 13, but remain lighter and
shorter than many of their peers. There are significant differences in the
pattern of 'catch-up',
depending on the infant's age when the slow weight gain occurs.
depending on the infant's age when the slow weight gain occurs.
RESEARCH
AND FINDINGS
The
new findings, published in the journal Pediatrics,
are based on data from 11,499 participants in Children of the 90s, and provide the most conclusive and reassuring
evidence for parents to date that, with the right care, many infants who fail
to put on weight quickly in the first nine months of life will catch up over
time.
The study found that, of the 11,499 infants
born within the period, 507 were slow to put on weight before the age of eight
weeks ('early group') and 480 were slow to gain weight between eight weeks and
nine months ('late group'). Thirty children were common to both groups.
The infants in the early group recovered
quickly and had almost caught up in weight by the age of two, whereas those in
the latter group gained weight slowly until the age of 7, then had a 'spurt'
between 7 and 10 years, but remained considerably shorter and lighter than
their peers and those in the early group at the age of 13. At that age,
children in the latter group were on average 5.5kg lighter and almost 4cm
shorter than their peers; those in the early group were on average 2.5kg
lighter and 3.25cm shorter than their peers.
Slow weight gain is often seen by parents and
some healthcare professionals as a sign of underlying ill health and clinicians
face a dilemma between taking steps to increase a child's energy intake and
putting them at risk of obesity later in life by encouraging too rapid weight
gain.
The study shows that there were very different
patterns of recovery between the early and late groups, even when other factors
like the mother's education, background, and her weight and height were taken
into account, but that there was little difference between boys and girls.
Professor
Alan Emond, the paper's main author explains:
'The reason the early group caught up more
quickly may be because those infants had obvious feeding difficulties and were
more readily identified at the eight-week check, resulting in early treatment
leading to a more rapid recovery. However, as Children of the 90s are an observational study, there is limited
information available about which infants received nutritional supplements or
medical treatments.
'Those children who showed slow weight gain
later in infancy took longer to recover, because of the longer period of slow
growth and because their parents were smaller and lighter too.
CONCLUSION
'Overall parents can be re-assured that well
babies showing slow weight gain in the first year do eventually recover to
within the normal range, but at 13 years tend to be lighter and smaller than
many of their peers.'
The findings highlight the importance of
monitoring a baby's weight and height gain during the first few weeks and
months, but not creating anxiety with parents of slow-growing babies who are
well, as most of these babies will catch up to within the national average over
time.
The
message to health professionals is that, unless children require intervention
due to ill health, their calorie intake should not be increased as this may
predispose them to obesity later in life. Feeding habits in the second six
months of life determine a child's future weight gain, so consuming too many
calories in infancy can lead to weight problems later in life.
