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Show ! Nothing Cute about Chubby friends and family jquenlly exclaim over pU baby, calling. lLe and "chubby.! , rcillity, the infant is ese and may be Jaded for an obese adulthood and scores of lllh-relaled problems Z a baby of normal Swwillnotface. ,VhV do kids get fat? Sc ience and health ter J-F- Wllkinson vs in the January Sue of Families that genetics and en- ironment are both Contributors. Statistically Statistic-ally fat parents are mo'r'e likely to have fat children. Overweight in oregancy also tends to reduce heavy babies. lost importantly, oerhaps, children learn heir eating habits from their parents; these are reinforced at least three limes a day for years. infant-feeding has 1 o rmnnelilive sport in the United States," Wilkinson writes. "The mother who gets her baby on solid food earliest is a neighborhood hero." The fact is that babies don't need solids the first four to six months, and the practice of putting them on solids too early may lead to obesity. To encourage sensible eating habits that will last a lifetime, parents are cautioned against "using food as a reward or bribe or insisting that every morsel on the plate be eaten. "The years from one to six are crucial in preventing preven-ting obesity in your children," Wilkinson points out. "They are the years in which the eating habits of a lifetime are formed, and the last years in which you have almost total control over what your child eats " |