Fat babies and fat children. The prognosis of obesity in the very young.

Abstract

Among 269 children undergoing treatment for obesity, 118 (44%) had been overweight since infancy, and in this group dietetic treatment was particularly unsuccessful. School health schedules showed that 16 out of 28 obese school entrants were still obese at 10 and 15 years. Twenty-one school entrants whose weight at 6 to 12 months had been above the 97th centile were significantly heavier than a control group, and 4 were obese. Since obesity in childhood is resistant to treatment, prevention is important . Overfeeding in infancy should be avoided.