Tackling Obesity

Childhood obesity is a very real problem in the U.S. to the point where policy makers have labeled it a public health threat.  According to the CDC  the rate of obesity among children has increased in every age group.  And that's alarming.  Obesity in childhood often means obesity in adulthood.  And, whether in childhood or adulthood, obesity can cause multiple other health concerns like high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes etc.  Besides jeopardizing health, it also taxes our medical system and increases the cost of medical care.

The CDC has good guidelines for preventing obesity and for dealing with it if you or your child is alread overweight.  But what about babies?  It's not so easy to figure out  how much is too much.  If you're breastfeeding it's even harder because you can't measure how much they're getting.  A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that all too often new moms are overfeeding their babies because they may not be sensitive to signals that their baby is full (the study focused on low-income African American and Hispanic mothers).  According to the study, that may override "the infant's ability to self-regulate its intake."   And that skill is critical to a healthy life.   But it's also tough to teach a new mom when it's ok to hold back on feeding.  Feeding your child is such a sensitive topic.  Hearing that you're over-feeding them can be interpreted as criticism (read that as 'bad mom"). 

It's so crucial that moms be given all the correct education and have access to good medical care so that they can make informed decisions.  We need to do a better job of providing all that for mothers such as those in this study.