Deviations from the normal growth curve should raise the alarm, especially in instances where the child gains too much weight too quickly. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Nutritionists advise pregnant women to work at cutting their weight before and after childbirth.
Is your baby chubby? Enjoy the cuteness and coo to the small round thighs and stomach, but not for long.
Findings from a new study published in JAMA Paediatrics reveal that weight increase during the first year of an infant’s life is associated with a greater risk for type 1 diabetes.
For years, type 1 diabetes in children has been linked to genetics, certain viruses or extremely cold conditions.
However, researchers are now beginning to make inroads into this grey zone of uncertainty with research linking weight gain to the disease.
Specifically, the findings suggest that the risk is severe among overweight children below six months of age, making it the most dangerous period for babies to be obese.
Mothers are being urged to ensure that their children have ideal weights in various development stages.
Deviations from the normal growth curve should raise the alarm, especially in instances where the child gains too much weight too quickly.
To prevent weight gain in children gestational diabetes, which occurs in pregnant women, should be promptly diagnosed and effectively treated.
If left unchecked the condition causes mothers to deliver big babies — weighing more than four kilogrammes. This increases the risk of childhood obesity and birth complications.
Doctors now want mothers to undergo four recommended check-ups before delivery and also be checked for diabetes.
New data from the recently launched Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014 show that only 58 per cent of pregnant women in Kenya visit antenatal clinics.
“We would like diabetes to be included in the list of routine tests conducted when mothers countrywide go to health facilities to seek antenatal care services,” said Dr Nancy Ngugi, a consultant endocrinologist at Kenyatta National Hospital.
Women who gain excessive weight before or during pregnancy also increase the risk of their children becoming overweight after birth.
Nutritionists advise mothers to work at having healthy body weights before and after birth.
“Women should avoid overeating during pregnancy with the common excuse that they are eating for two. Food that is enough for you is enough for the baby,” said Ms Gladys Mugambi, head of the Nutrition and Dietetics Unit in the Ministry of Health.
She urged mothers to exclusively breast feed their children for the first six months of life as it guards against weight gain.
Kenya has made great strides in breast-feeding with about 61 per cent of women doing so, the Demographic and Health Survey indicates.
Studies show that babies given formula milk are often over fed. Cow milk also makes babies fat — just as it promotes rapid weight gain in calves.
During the weaning period, families are advised to limit sugar sweetened drinks and instead offer fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains.
Porridge can be fortified with milk and given to the child without adding processed sugar.
Physical activity
“As a mother you have the power to influence your child’s dietary patterns early in life. I have never given my son processed sugar. He doesn’t know how sweetened beverages taste. So he has no problem with drinking sugar-free porridge. He is also accustomed to brown rice and indigenous vegetables," says Mary Wangui, a mother of a two-year-old child.
“You had better start healthy from the word go instead of changing diets when the child’s taste buds have already become used to certain foods,” she adds.
Mothers often soothe crying babies with food even if they are not hungry. It is common to see women rushing for the feeding bottle or breast milk any time a child cries. Nutritionists warn that this habit causes children to over-feed or develop craving for food every time they are under duress.
“I have learnt that if a child isn’t hungry then you needn’t worry about food. Putting them in a comfortable position, soothing them with a calming hand or going for a walk to change surroundings usually calms the baby,” she said.
For older children, physical activity helps curb obesity and type 2 diabetes. But busy parents who baby-sit their children with music or TV to avoid supervising or playing with them encourage sedentary lifestyles which in turn result in weight gain.
For toddlers, apart from getting diabetes, excess fat and calories lead to obesity which delays crawling and walking.
This compromises the child’s physical and mental development. The JAMA Paediatrics research involved 99,832 children from Norway and Denmark where there is a high diabetes burden.
It was the first population-based study providing evidence that weight increase during the first year of life predisposes children to type 1 diabetes.
The researchers noted that the results could be taken as support for the hypothesis that overweight children have an increased chance of developing the disease.
