The number of sumo babies is becoming alarming and its increase is reportedly blamed to parents' lack of education about infant weaning. Despite recommendations of healthcare experts to maintain milk as an infant's primary nutrition until the baby is one year old, many parents are weaning children as early as below the recommended six months.
Government of United Kingdom is seeking to correct misinformation among parents, particularly mothers, when it comes to pregnancy nutrition and infant weaning. According to Daily Mail, the surge of sumo babies, or babies weighing over 9 lbs upon birth, can be attributed to "fat mothers" and this is even aggravated as parents replace milk with pureed junk food.
Professor David Haslam of National Obesity Forum said that the rate of "mothers who are fat having fat babies" is now on an "epidemic" scale. Instead of addressing the issues regarding overweight babies, the institution has decided to focus on the mothers in the community, especially those who are misinformed early on.
Introduction of solids at an early age is said to be one of the top causes of obesity among infant before they reach their first birthday. Moreover, another plausible cause is that some mothers go back to work immediately and wean off breastfeeding.
According to World Health Organization, babies should be exclusively breastfed until six months--this means an infant is not allowed to be fed with solid foods, vitamins and not even water. As the baby reaches the sixth month, infants are recommended to be given fresh, indigenous foods and not processed foods. Machine-produced jarred baby foods, no matter how a manufacturer says that it doesn't contain chemicals nor preservatives, are strictly not recommended as they are considered baby junk foods.
Aside from obesity, health risks of early infant weaning include type 1 diabetes, iron-deficiency anemia, Celiac disease, among others. Furthermore, Kelly Mom notes that delaying solids--for at least 6-8 months--give more benefits for both the mother and baby.
If an infant is delayed from solids until the recommended age, the protection against illnesses is increased, especially if an infant is breastfed. During the recommended age, an infant's digestive system is already matured.
At what age did you let your baby start weaning? Let us know by commenting below!
