Khaberni - A study at Pennsylvania State University indicates that bad habits inherited from childhood can lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in later life stages.
Using questionnaires that included 150 women and their infants at the ages of two months and six months, researchers verified the mothers' daily habits, such as how often their children ate, how much play they got daily, and when they typically slept.
Unhealthy behaviors
According to "Daily Mail", researchers found that 9 behaviors related to eating, sleeping, and playing adhered to by families when children were two months old were linked to weight gain at the age of six months.
These behaviors included giving the infants very large feeding bottles and feeding them frequently throughout the night.
Sleeping habits
In the sleep category, the 4 habits that led to weight gain were: going to bed after 8 PM, waking up more than twice at night, putting the child in bed asleep rather than going to bed drowsy, and sleeping in a room with a running TV.
As for playtime, overweight children are more likely to have parents who use their phones or watch TV during playtime, and those who have limited playtime or sleep less than required on their stomachs, a position that helps strengthen the upper body muscles.
The importance of the first 6 months
While many children lose extra fat over time, weight gain during the first six months of a baby's life paves the way for a slower metabolism, which increases appetite and makes losing weight later more difficult.
Obesity life-long is a risk factor for diabetes and forces the heart to exert more effort to pump blood, increasing the risk of heart disease.
Yingying Ma, the lead researcher, said: "As soon as the child reaches only two months of age, we can already observe patterns in nutrition, sleep, and play that could shape their growth path." and "This shows the importance of early screening in childhood."
