DOCTOR SAYS MOTHERS SHOULD WATCH WHAT THEIR BABY EATS

FROM: HHS HealthBeat (July 18, 2012)

How big is your baby
There are big kids, and too-big kids, and researchers say many moms can’t tell the difference. At the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Erin Hager had low-income moms of overweight toddlers choose silhouettes that the moms thought represented the size of their child.

"Ninety-four percent of mothers of overweight toddlers chose a silhouette that was two or more images smaller than their child’s true body size."

Dr. Hager says mothers of normal-weight toddlers also estimated wrong.

This doesn’t mean toddlers should go on diets. But Hager says mothers do need to watch what their kids eat, whether they’re active enough – and whether they’re big, or right-sized.

The study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.