Follow-up Study of Physical Growth of Children Who Had Excessive Weight Gain in First Six Months of Life

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether excessive weight gain in the first six weeks, three months, or six months of life was correlated. with overweight and obesity at the age of 6 to 8 years. One hundred and thirty eight infants with excessive weight gain in the first six months of life, 53 children with slow weight gain, and 33 children with an average weight gain were re-examined at the age of 6, 7, or 8 years. The mean height and weight of children who had gained weight rapidly in infancy were significantly higher than those of children who had gained weight slowly; those of infants whose weight gain had been average fell in between. The number of obese children in the rapid-weight-gain group was significantly higher than that of the combined average and slow-weight-gain groups. The rapidity of weight gain in infancy was a better guide to the risk of overweight in later childhood than the weight of the parents.