Just FYI for mums, I read this article last weekend in the Straits Times. My daughter is also quite big for a 4 month old
Article from Straits Times, Oct 25, 2009
Babies are usually not classified as obese. Instead, they are either large, a good size, small for their gestational age, or weeks of pregnancy.
Paediatricians whom LifeStyle spoke to said children up to one year old are simply too young to be classified as obese.
The issue of when the size of a large baby becomes a concern was raised by a recent case in the United States where a baby was initially denied health insurance for being overweight. Four-month-old Alex Lange tipped the scales at 7.7kg, falling into the 99th growth percentile for babies his age. But he was still declared healthy by doctors.
Associate Professor Lee Yung Seng, senior consultant at the University Children's Medical Institute at National University Hospital, said: 'It's quite ridiculous to call a baby obese. The term has negative connotations and we don't want to cause parents undue worry. Generally, we are more confident about assessing any potential weight issues when a child has reached one year of age.'
Associate Professor Mary Daniel, head of the Neonatal Ambulatory Service at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) said: 'Babies who have poor growth before delivery and born with low birth weights often have rapid catch-up weight gain in infancy.'
Infants are never put on any restrictive diet, regardless of their weight. 'There is no such thing as low-fat milk for babies. They need nutrients to grow,' said Dr Ang Ai Tin, consultant paediatrician and neonatologist at Thomson Medical Centre.
She added that for large children up to two years of age, they could go on to shed excess weight 'because they are very active and constantly running around'.
Public relations manager Karen Lai, 33, is the mother of two children aged two and four, who are 'perfectly healthy and fine and extremely active'.
'A few years ago, everyone thought my son Bijan was chubby and they were always pinching him. But the doctors never said it was a cause for concern and he is leaner now,' she said.
Nevertheless, some go on to develop weight issues as toddlers between the ages of 12 and 24 months. Parents can monitor their children's growth by the act of what doctors call 'eyeballing'.
This is done by comparing their children to others of the same age to see if they are noticeably bigger. And even if they are so, they are not necessarily overweight.
