Baby fat may delay crawling and walking

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Research suggests that babies who are too fat for their height may be predisposed to obesity later in life. A new study suggests another reason to prevent excessive weight early in life: It may delay a baby’s ability to move.

The study, published online in the Journal of Pediatrics, looked at 217 babies at various intervals from the age of 3 months to 18 months. The study found that overweight infants were twice as likely as non-overweight infants to have a low score on a psychomotor development index test. Infants with high subcutaneous fat, rolls of fat under their skin, were twice as likely as babies without fat rolls to have a low score.

‘There are a number of studies that show that weight status during the infancy and toddler years can set young children on an obesity trajectory that may be hard to change,’ said the lead author of the study, Meghan Slining, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in a news release. ‘Our study shows that there are actually immediate consequences as well.’

-- Shari Roan