NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - two years that still use the bottles are more likely to be obese by kindergarten, concludes a new study.
Researchers who studied the children of U.S. 6.750 concluded that toddlers who were still drink bottles at the age of 2 years were a third more likely than other children to be obese at the age of 5 years.
Researchers do not know if long-term bottle feeding is directly responsible for.
But they say raise them the opportunity gain conclusions that babies of the bottle around their first birthday of withdrawal could help prevent excessive weight gain.
Pediatricians already advise parents to divert children from the bottle to cups toddler friendly when they are about 12 to 14 months, or even earlier.
However, it is in large part because the bottle-feeding prolonged, especially during the night, is thought to increase the risk of cavities. It can also contribute to iron deficiency.
The latest results, published in the journal of Pediatrics, may offer incentive added parents to follow these recommendations, according to the principal investigator Rachel a. Gooze, doctoral candidate in public health at Temple University in Philadelphia.2
And that incentive may be necessary, she noted in an interview, since it seems that lot of 2 years are still using bottles.
Gooze children and colleagues studied, 1-5 was still using a bottle at the age of 24 months - either at night or all the time.
And these users long-term bottle, approximately 1 in 5 obese at the age of 5 years, against about 1 in 6 children, who had earlier been weaned.
The researchers then examined a number of factors that could affect the risk of a child of obesity - the weight of the mother, family income and education, and if the child had already been breastfed.
They found that prolonged feeding bottle, itself, was linked to an increase of 33% of risk of childhood obesity.
The connection does not cause and effect, prove said Gooze.
But it is possible that for some children, the bottle is providing unnecessary calories.
"The bottle could provide a source of comfort, rather than meet the nutritional needs," said Gooze.
And the additional calories could be considerable. For example, Gooze pointed out that if a girl of 2 years of average size drinks a bottle of 8 ounces of whole milk at bedtime, which would respond to 12% of its calories needed for the day.
Prolonged bottle feeding can also get toddlers having a varied, nutritious, diet according to Dr. Marc s. Jacobson, a member of the American Academy of obesity Leadership Workgroup of Pediatrics.
"Parents often say that it is difficult to get children to eat vegetables," Jacobson noted in an interview.
A way of helping with that, he said, is to "begin soon" - gradually introducing foods of different flavours, textures and colours in the feeding of infants and toddlers.
In General, parents should start introducing solid foods at the age of 6 months. Prior to this, experts recommend exclusive breastfeeding - a practice that has been associated with a lower risk of childhood obesity, Jacobson remarked.
As Gooze, Jacobson noted that this study shows an association and not necessarily cause and effect. But he said that the conclusions turn attention to the importance of the early life in the risk of childhood obesity.
"Many of the public discussion on the obesity epidemic has been on restoring quick, junk food and soda," said Jacobson. "But there are also feed problems associated with childhood obesity."
Withdrawal of babies of the bottle to cup can be difficult, Gooze noted, particularly of the "ritual" of the bottle at bedtime.
Jacobson, said that if parents are challenging times, they may speak with their pediatrician to different methods to ease the transition. "This is what the pediatrician is there for," he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/mnCVrl Journal of Pediatrics, may 5 online, 2011.2
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