My fat little boy

My five year old boy is already considered too fat for his age. Kindly advise me on how to prevent him from growing up to be a fat man

Kareem (by SMS)

Researchers are calling for urgent action to prevent unhealthy lifestyles setting in among babies and toddlers amid fears for over their bulging waistlines. They said a child’s trajectories are set early in life and ‘appear difficult to alter after the age of about five years’. The first 1,000 days of life – from pregnancy through to a child’s second birthday – are ‘critical to development and health across the life-course’, they added.

These interventions could include: helping women to begin pregnancy at a healthy weight; encouraging breastfeeding, which is linked with a reduced risk of childhood obesity and avoiding ‘rapid catch-up growth’ in low birth weight babies. Overweight children are more likely to be overweight adults, which increases their risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.

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‘The first 1,000 days, including time in the womb, represent an important window of opportunity to set children on a healthy trajectory for life. ‘Once obesity is established, it becomes increasingly harder to reverse.