Child portrayed in photo is a paid actor

It's so much easier to prevent childhood obesity than treat it. Early diets are a strong influence: Food preferences are generally shaped between ages two and three.

The fact that babies are getting bigger and bigger has given pedicatricians even more reason to recommend breast-feeding. They believe parents who bottle-feed too often are intent on having the baby "finish the bottle," even though he or she may be full.

And the hazards of modern life that send too many children down a path to obesity are the same ones that plague older children: Too much fast food, too many calories and too much TV/video (inactivity).

Associated Press reported on a recent study of more than 3,000 kids ages four months to two years old that found a significant number of infants and toddlers are consuming too many french fries, too much pizza, candy and soda, and too many calories.

The Feeding Infants and Toddlers study, commissioned by Gerber, found that kids ages one and two exceed daily caloric recommendations by an average of 20-30%.

Kids ages one and two years need about 950 calories per day, but this study found they average 1,220 calories.

For kids 7 months to 11 months old, the daily caloric surplus was about 20%.

Other findings:

Among the Youngest

	9% of children 9-11 months old ate fries at least once daily
	Hot dogs, sausage and bacon also were daily staples for 7% of 9-to-11 month old kids

... And a bit older

	Up to one third of kids don’t regularly eat fruits and veggies, and french fries are the dominant choice for those who DO.
	25% of one to two-year-olds eat fatty meats such as hot dogs and sausage every day
	More than 60% of one-year-olds had dessert or candy at least once daily (and at 19-months: 70% did)
	16% of one-year-olds ate a salty snack daily. (And at 19-months, 27% did).
	30-40% of the kids 15 months and up had a sugary fruit drink each day. (About 10% had soda).

The same study also found parents were ignoring widely accepted practices by allowing what doctors recommend against:

	29% of infants eat solid food before they were four months old.
	17% drink juice before six months.
	20% drink cow's milk before 12 months.

FOR MORE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD CONSUMPTION/SNACK HAZARDS,

CLICK HERE

30% OF KIDS THREE AND UNDER HAVE A TV IN THEIR BEDROOM.

This is one of findings of a Kaiser Family Foundation Study (published October 28, 2003) that seemed to astonish the public. Another: 68% of kids ages two and under use screen media for more than two hours per day (TV, videos, video games). The fact is, this is how kids today are growing up -- exposed to digital media before they are to print. Today’s toddlers are heavily targeted and deeply immersed, thus very sedentary.

Doctors urge parents to avoid TV for kids ages two and under.