News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

How you feed your baby may influence whether he is overweight as an adult, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen.

• Researchers studied over 5000 babies born between 1959 and 1961.
  
• Breast-fed babies were less likely to be overweight, but that did not carry over into their adolescence and adulthood.
  
• If their caretakers did not feed the babies solid foods until they were three months old or older, they were between 5 and 10 percent less likely to be overweight as teenagers and adults.

The study appears in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Labels: infants, teenagers, overweight, nutrition

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A study published in the Dec. 6 edition of Nature revealed a connection between obesity and a genetic abnormality. According to the L.A. Times, the discovery spared one British couple the anguish of losing their children.

The youngsters severe obesity had been seen as a possible sign of abuse or neglect, and they had been put on the list of the country's social services department.

"They were being blamed for their childrens condition, receiving frequent visits from social services, frequent reviews, knowing people could have their children taken away," [researcher Dr. Sadaf] Farooqi said.

Both the study and the British couple's situation have raised questions about just how much parents can be held responsible for their children's weight problems. In June, a South Carolina mother was sentenced to 15 years in jail on felony charges of neglect. Her 14-year-old son weighs 555 pounds.

Labels: overweight, research, chilhood_obesity

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If a teen girl is overweight or obese at age 18, she is at double the risk for multiple sclerosis, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health.

"Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS," said author Dr. Kassandra Munger.

Dr. Munger and her colleagues used data on 238,371 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study.

This study appeared in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Labels: health, teens, overweight, girls, obesity

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Overweight children who wet their beds at night may have obstructive sleep apnea, according to a study from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey.

Dr. Joseph Barone and his colleagues compared 149 overweight children (ages five to 15 years) to 139 normal weight children of the same age. Bedwetting and being overweight raised the risk for sleep apnea.

This study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

Labels: health, overweight, research, sleep_apnea, bedwetting

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Mothers may be partly to blame for childhood obesity, because many of them are overfeeding their infants, according to a study from Rutgers University that appeared in appeared in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Dr. John Worobey and his colleagues monitored 96 mothers of babies at ages three months, six months, and twelve months old. The mothers tended to overfeed the children between six and twelve months old because they could not tell when the children were full. They fed them too frequently or did not slow the pace of feeding, which can lead to overweight and obesity.

Dr. Worobey said that such practices interfere with the childrens ability to self-regulate their own eating habits because their body gets used to the feeling of excessive amounts.

Weight-loss experts and other health professionals note that making
healthy food choices and eating appropriately sized portions are two important steps in the effort to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

Labels: mothers, overweight, chilhood_obesity, eating habits

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A study in the journal Pediatrics found that preschoolers who spend time in day care centers or family childcare homes are at average risk for being overweight. However, children who are cared for by relatives, friends, sitters or neighbors have a higher chance of becoming obese by kindergarten.

Being cared for by a grandparent put a child at the highest risk, according to the study, which was conducted at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Labels: overweight, obesity, daycare

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A new study from the University of Florida found that parents who struggle with depression or an overload of stress might get in the way of their child losing weight.

Dr. David Janicke, assistant professor of clinical and health psychology, studied 96 overweight or obese children in order to find out how parental well-being, bullying by peers, and depression affect the health of these children. He found that all three were linked to a poorer quality of life.

Parents who are struggling with issues of their own have less energy and may not be able to provide the support that an overweight child requires to lose weight, Dr. Janicke said. Therefore, tending to the needs of the parents may be the best way to help overweight children.

"It's important for parents to take time out to take care of themselves," he wrote in a report published in the journal Obesity.

Labels: overweight, depression, parental-involvement

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More children are taking medications for diabetes and other chronic conditions, according to a study from the St. Louis University of Medicine. Researchers looked at the number of prescriptions written between 2002 and 2005, and found increases in medications for allergies, asthma, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and diabetes.

In 2002, 0.27 per 1000 children took diabetes medicines, and 29.5 per 1000 used asthma controllers. By 2005, asthma medications increased by 46.5 percent, 40.5 percent for ADD and ADHD and 15 percent for diabetes.

Over 15 percent of American children are overweight, and an additional 15 percent are obese, which means more children are developing diabetes.

"The good news is that we doctors are doing a better job of screening children and diagnosing chronic conditions," said Dr. Donna Halloran, assistant professor of pediatrics at St. Louis School of Medicine.

Labels: overweight, meds, pills

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Overweight teenagers will follow the example of parents who maintain a healthy body image and good weight control strategies, according to a new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

• Researchers at the University of California in San Diego studied 103 overweight adolescents and their parents from the Minneapolis area.
• The team researched how well the family got along and the levels of parental depression, self esteem and body satisfaction influenced the children.
• If the parents practiced healthy weight control measures such as exercising and eating more fruits and vegetables, the teens tended to follow suit.

"Attachment or bonding in the family was shown to decrease children's episodes of over- eating," Dr. Brenda Lohman, author of the study, said. "Family and household stress has been linked to increased levels of childhood and adolescent obesity."
 

Labels: parental influence, teenagers, overweight

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