Bottle-feeding link to obese children

Bottle-fed babies who start eating solids early are more likely to become obese children, says research published today.

With three quarters of babies on bottles rather than being breast fed by the age of four months and a growing number of children becoming obese or overweight, the study has wide implications.

The researchers believe that breast-fed babies are good at regulating their milk intake in relation to their needs.

But mothers who bottle feed may be anxious for their baby to finish the bottle and when they start a baby early on solids - before six months - they may not reduce the amount of bottle feed they also give.

The study is based on the detailed feeding history of almost 900 mothers and babies who took part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which is supported by the Medical Research Council.

The study, Children of the 90s, recruited 14,000 mothers during pregnancy in 1991-92 and has followed most of the children and parents in detail ever since.

It found that increased calorie intake in babies was linked to 50 per cent raised risk of being obese at the age of three and a 25 per cent raised risk at five.

Dr Pauline Emmett, the senior nutritionist in the study, said: "It could be that more advice should be made available about weaning, tailored to the particular needs of formula-fed infants.

"In the push to persuade mothers to breast feed, which of course is the first objective, perhaps we have neglected to provide adequate information to formula feeders."

The study is published today in the journal Pediatrics. Dr Ken Ong, from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit and Cambridge University, said: "There is a growing awareness that some infants may be fed excessively and develop a higher risk for overweight or obesity."

He said parents should follow Department of Health guidelines which promote breast feeding and the introduction of weaning foods at around six months.

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