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Among formula-fed infants or infants weaned before the age of 4 months, introduction of solid foods before the age of 4 months was associated with increased odds of obesity at age 3 years.
The findings support U.S. guidelines that say parents should wait until babies are between 4 and 6 months old to start feeding them solid foods, said Dr. Susanna Huh, one of the study's lead authors from Children's Hospital Boston.
Breastfeeding itself cuts down on a baby's risk of being obese. For those babies who are raised on formula, it seems to be especially important that parents wait until babies are at least four months old to feed them solid foods, researchers
say.
In the first 4 months of life, 568 infants (67%) were breastfed and 279 (32%) were formula-fed. At age 3 years, 75 children (9%) were obese. Among breastfed infants, the timing of solid food introduction was not associated with odds of obesity (odds ratio: 1.1 [95% confidence interval: 0.3–4.4]). Among formula-fed infants, introduction of solid foods before 4 months was associated with
at age 3 years; the association was not explained by rapid early growth (odds ratio after adjustment: 6.3 [95% confidence interval: 2.3–6.9]).
Dr. David McCormick, a pediatrician at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston who was not involved in the current study, said that the most common problem he sees is parents adding cereal to formula without thinking about the extra calories they are feeding their baby: that's exactly how adults get overweight, they eat a little bit more than they should every day. We know from other studies that if you're overweight or obese at 3, you're very likely to stay
overweight.
Source
Timing
of Solid Food Introduction and Risk of Obesity in
Preschool-Aged Children
Susanna Y. Huh, MD, MPH, Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman, MPH, Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH, Emily Oken, MD, MPH, Matthew W. Gillman, MD, SM.
(MDN)
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