Are we on the verge of a baby obesity crisis? Fabulous investigates why we’re at breaking point when it comes to feeding tots
Fabulous investigates why we're at a breaking point when it comes to feeding our babies as nearly 10 per cent of children are obese by the time they start school in the UK
Picking up a chip, Kelly Monie smiled at her baby son Kayden as they sat in the fast-food restaurant.
Only a year old and barely able to speak, he grabbed the chip from her with his chubby hand and stuffed it in his mouth.
“I honestly didn’t think there was anything wrong with him eating the odd bit of junk food when we went out,” Kelly, now 25, remembers. “But bitter experience has taught me I was obviously clueless.”
With childhood obesity rates soaring across the world, in the UK nearly 10% of children are obese by the time they start school, while a third of children between the ages of two and 15 are classed as overweight or obese.
However, as Kelly has since realised, it’s not just toddlers and school-aged children we need to worry about. What we feed our kids from birth can have a massive impact on their health.
Research from the University of Texas claims obesity can be detected in infants at just six months old, while this year a European study of more than 400 children discovered obese toddlers showed early signs of weight-related heart damage from the age of one.
Meanwhile, in the past decade, more than 84,000 children under the age of four have had teeth extracted due to poor diets – and 328 of those hadn’t even reached their first birthday.
Like thousands of parents nationwide, when she gave birth to Kayden in August 2015, Kelly vowed to do her best by him.
However, even though she breastfed her son until he was 14 months, she began introducing solids when Kayden was just four months.
Within weeks, she was feeding him sugar and fat-laden meals without a second thought.
“Kayden was a big baby at 8lb 8oz and always fed really well,” remembers Kelly, who lives in Barking.
“When I began to introduce him to solids, I’d make him the puréed version of what I ate, such as peas and potatoes.
"But when we were out with friends and Kayden saw what other, older children were eating, he wanted what they had. At 10 months, I let him try a sugary doughnut, which he got a real taste for.”
Of course, Kelly is not alone. This year Pinki Sahota, professor of nutrition and childhood obesity at Leeds Beckett University, revealed the shocking results of a two-year study following the diets of 1,250 Bradford-born babies aged 12-18 months.
One child’s teeth were black by they time they came through because of the cola they were being bottle-fed. Other babies were already hooked on junk food such as crisps and chocolate at just five months old, despite not even being able to chew.
“I began giving Kayden ice cream when he started teething at eight months old to cool his gums,” remembers Kelly. “Of course it was so sweet, he loved it.
“When we were out shopping he’d see brightly coloured packets of sweets next to the tills and reach out for them from his buggy. If I said no, he would start to throw a tantrum, so I’d eventually give in to avoid a scene. One of his favourite things was lollipops – he’d only have to spot one when we were out and cry until he got it. Even though he was a baby, his pester power was overwhelming, and when you’re out in public you don’t want a whiny child in your arms.
“I thought that, because most of the time he had a balanced diet full of veg and fruit, it didn’t matter if he had a few extras such as sweets, chips and ice-cream, as so many of my other mum friends were also doing it.”
Dr Tim Ubhi has been a consultant paediatrician for 25 years and reveals he’s seen a rise in overweight and unhealthy babies.
“There are many medical reasons a baby might tip the scales, such as diabetes,” he explains.
“However, in most cases the babies are simply overfed and given the wrong foods.
“When an infant cries, parents tend to check whether they have a dirty nappy or if it’s due to hunger.
This means that from very early on we’re using food as an emotional crutch, which then carries into childhood.
In previous generations parents had more support from extended families, but this is slowly decreasing. Nowadays, parents often have no help, so giving in is the easier option.”
This is something Kelly could certainly relate to. “Some days I just couldn’t face the meltdowns if Kayden didn’t get the sweeties he wanted,” she admits.
“I think if I could have seen the effect it was having on his body it might have been different, but he was tall for his age and hid it well.
"He may not have been obese, but I’m a size 16 and have always had to watch my weight, so it was almost inevitable that he’d become overweight too if he continued eating that much sugary food.”
However, it wasn’t an appointment with a concerned GP that caused Kelly to pull the plug on Kayden’s sugary diet – it was a stint in the dentist’s chair. At just 17 months old, he had serious tooth decay in his front tooth and needed it extracted.
“For the next two days, as Kayden recovered, I cried non-stop. What had I done to my little boy?” says Kelly. “Now he only drinks water – I won’t even let him have juice. And I’m much firmer with him when we are out. He’s certainly not allowed sugary snacks.
“Before, I thought he’d be deprived if I took his lollipops, ice cream and sweets away from him, but I realised that as his parent I get to decide what he eats. If it isn’t in the house, he doesn’t miss it. It’s when we are out at the shop or with friends that he is prone to kicking off. When I say no, he’ll cry. I feel awful about it, but it’s for his own good. I realise I was letting him gorge needlessly.
“I really regret letting things get so out of hand so early on in his life. I’m incredibly relieved I’ve caught this just in time before he developed serious weight and health issues.”
This year, in a bid to tackle this growing childhood health crisis, the Department of Health updated its policy Childhood Obesity: A Plan For Action.
Part of its new strategy includes challenging the food and drinks industry to reduce overall sugar across a range of products that contribute to children’s sugar intake by at least 20% in the next three years.
This includes product ranges explicitly targeted at babies and young children – no bad thing when you consider that one pouch of the hugely popular baby food brand Ella’s Kitchen The Purple One contains more than 3tsp of sugar, and a single Farley’s Rusks Original is 29% sugar.
The government is also looking into how health visitors and midwives can do more in educating families on nutrition, healthy weight messaging and weaning advice. However, as far as Cherelle Slater is concerned, some health professionals are overzealous about concerns, which can lead to a parental crisis in confidence.
Cherelle, 30, can still remember the feeling as her face burned with humiliation two months ago when a health visitor said that her five-month-old daughter Harlie needed to go on a diet. At 23lb, she was nearly 1/2st above the national average.
“I felt like the worst parent in the world,” remembers Cherelle, a stay-at-home mum from Newcastle Upon Tyne. “She said her weight would end up affecting her ongoing health. All I could do was nod silently.”
When Harlie was born in May she was 7lb 14oz. Although it’s expected that babies lose weight in the first few weeks, she quickly went up to 8lb within a few days – and carried on gaining.
“To me, she’s simply always been a big baby,” insists Cherelle. “But I don’t think I overfeed her. Before the health visitor berated me, Harlie was having breast milk until seven weeks, then around nine 6oz bottles of formula milk a day. At five months, I began to wean her with baby rice and meal pouches because she always seemed hungry. But I certainly wasn’t feeding her junk.”
Cherelle followed the health visitor’s advice and started restricting Harlie’s milk, giving her a 6oz bottle every four hours and a little baby rice in the morning.
“Harlie went from sleeping through the night to crying and waking four or five times,” says Cherelle.
“It was so hard hearing her desperate, hungry cries and knowing I wasn’t allowed to feed her.
“During the day, she was often distraught between feeds, which she’d never been like before. Plus, she wasn’t my happy girl any more – she was grumpy, which made me feel so stressed. I felt like I was letting her down and didn’t know which way to turn.
“My husband Adam was as upset as I was about what we’d been told, so supported me through Harlie’s ‘diet’. It was emotionally exhausting for all of us, and after just a week, scared I was starving her, we decided to trust our instincts and give up.”
Since then, Harlie’s weight has remained steady at 23lb – still 5lb above the average, but bringing her back within national weight guidelines. However, Cherelle still feels like she’s being judged.
“Recently I was in a cafe with Harlie and an older lady asked what age she was. When I told her, I could see the woman was shocked, and she couldn’t help but comment on how big she was for her age. I know she didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, but I still felt like I had to excuse my baby’s size.
“Taking Harlie for her weekly weigh-ins is also excruciating,” admits Cherelle. “I constantly worry that the staff blame me. Adam, 24, and I were both really big babies, but I am a size 8 now, so I think once she’s moving, the weight will drop off her.”
However, Dr Ubhi warns that once a baby’s weight starts to creep up, it can be difficult to reduce it again.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” he explains. “Being overweight means you generally need more calories to sustain your functions, so if a baby puts on a few pounds, they may then find they’re hungrier and so need more milk, and could get even bigger.”
However, he does concede that it’s vital health professionals work harder in getting parental support.
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“We need to make sure the message is delivered properly with non-judgemental advice and support for parents who have got overweight babies,” explains Dr Ubhi.
“It’s not about pointing the finger and making someone feel like they’re to blame, it’s about offering help to the families who need it. A unified approach involving heath professionals, parents and children is essential if we are to have an impact.”
While Kelly is glad that her dentist got involved in her baby’s diet, Cherelle feels that her experience at the hands of health visitors has marred part of Harlie’s childhood.
“While I’ve worked hard to build my confidence in what I’m feeding her, I still constantly feel like I have to justify her size,” she admits.
“I know Harlie is larger than average, but I’d rather the health team had waited until she was older before bringing up concerns about her weight with me.
"In my opinion, leaving your baby to cry with hunger simply isn’t good parenting.”