Controlling the Eating May Cause Less Weight in Child
According to the report in the January issue of Pediatrics, A lower weight may be desirable in adults, but it is not always in the best interest of a young child. Dr. Brenda Kohn, a pediatric endocrinologist and an associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine and Medical Center in New York City said that nutrition is extremely important in infancy and childhood, and in the first two years, the child is growing in height and weight and the brain is growing, so it’s extremely important that proper nutrition is provided.
The study authors wanted to better understand the role that parental attitudes toward food played in their child’s eventual weight. Previous studies had suggested that when a parent tries to control food intake, it would eventually result in an overweight child, whereas a child who was pressured to eat seemed to end up weighing less.
In this study, the researchers found that two feeding practices, restricting food and pressuring to eat — resulted in lower than average weight scores. “The findings of this study suggest that, as early as 1 year of age, controlling feeding practices can be causal in predicting child weight,” the study’s authors wrote.
“Previous research in older children has shown that the more autonomy the kids have, the less likely they are to act out. For adolescents, the more restrictive their parents are, the more they act like the food police, the more likely the adolescent is to eat out of emotional reasons,” says Dana Rofey, a psychologist in the Weight Management and Wellness Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Kohn said the take-away message from this study is that parents should work with their child’s pediatrician to optimize feeding practices and nutrition and to pass along a “positive attitude about feeding.” Rofey said the most important thing parents need to know about feeding toddlers is that they don’t need to eat the same portions as adults do. “The most common thing we see parents with young toddlers do is try to feed them adult portions,” she said.
via medicinenet
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Kids will eat when they are hungry and will not eat when full.
They will also exercise if you get them from behind TVs and video games…I promise..I did it with mine and amazingly he still walks and runs. I only have to make him stop trying to push the A&B button when he wants to jump.