All4Baby » childhood obesity https://all4baby.co.za From Pregnancy to birth to baby and beyond. The place to find, chat, and share. Mon, 07 Jul 2014 17:34:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=343 A good toddler sleep routine can keep the whole family healthy https://all4baby.co.za/toddlers-1-2-years/parenting-a-toddler/958/good-toddler-sleep-routine-can-keep-whole-family-healthy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=good-toddler-sleep-routine-can-keep-whole-family-healthy https://all4baby.co.za/toddlers-1-2-years/parenting-a-toddler/958/good-toddler-sleep-routine-can-keep-whole-family-healthy/#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2014 07:58:48 +0000 https://all4baby.co.za/?p=958 A new study that observed family sleep routines and found that children raised in families that priotitize rest are less likely to become obese.

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A new study conducted at the University of Illinois says that children who are raised by families that prioritize shut-eye are less likely to be obese.

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, examined the sleep routines of 337 US preschool children and their families, taking into account socioeconomic characteristics and observing the influence of TV time and meal routines.

Researchers considered four routines protective against childhood obesity including limited TV time, not having a bedroom TV, quality family meal time and adequate sleep.

Yet sleep was the only factor that made a difference in the results.

Children who slept 10 hours per day or more were less likely to suffer obesity than those who did not, regardless of the other protective routines.

Given the importance of sleep, the most likely factor in a child’s risk for obesity was the parental sleep routine.

In a chain reaction, parents who slept inadequately had children who did the same and were therefore more likely to be overweight.

“Parents should make being well rested a family value and a priority,” said Barbara H. Fiese, director of the U of I’s Family Resiliency Center and Pampered Chef Endowed Chair. “We viewed how long parents slept and how long children slept as part of a household routine and found that they really did go together.”

Sufficient sleep has long been linked to healthy weight management and children are hardly new study subjects.

A recent study by the University College London found that 16-month-old toddlers who slept less than 10 hours per day increased their calorie consumption by 10 percent over those who slept 13 hours per day.

A 2009 study by the European Centre of Taste Science in Dijon in central France found participants were likely to consume up to 22 percent more calories than normal after a bad night’s sleep.

(AFP Relaxnews)

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Study: Turning off the TV during pregnancy could prevent childhood obesity https://all4baby.co.za/pregnancy/planning-for-baby/599/study-turning-tv-pregnancy-prevent-childhood-obesity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=study-turning-tv-pregnancy-prevent-childhood-obesity https://all4baby.co.za/pregnancy/planning-for-baby/599/study-turning-tv-pregnancy-prevent-childhood-obesity/#comments Mon, 12 May 2014 09:44:18 +0000 https://all4baby.co.za/?p=599 Expectant mothers can help prevent childhood obesity early by adopting healthy screentime habits even before the child is born.

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That’s the overriding conclusion of a new study presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Vancouver, where researchers said that women who ate in front of the TV during meal times while they were pregnant were five times more likely to expose their infants to TV during feeding times than their counterparts.

Reinforcing healthy media habits

“Reinforcing healthy media habits during pregnancy may help reduce infants’ mealtime media exposure and impact long-term media habits in children,” said lead author Mary Jo Messito.

For their study, researchers analyzed data from an early childhood obesity prevention program conducted for low-income Hispanic families at Bellevue Hospital Center/NYU School of Medicine in New York.

Mothers were followed until the babies were three years old. During their third trimester, 71 percent of the 189 participants reported watching TV during “some” meal times (compared to options like “never,” “often” and “always”) while 33 percent of mothers said their three-month-olds were also exposed to TV during feedings.

Identifying maternal behaviors will help childhood obesity prevention

“Identifying specific maternal behaviors and characteristics associated with child TV viewing during meals will help early childhood obesity prevention efforts seeking to promote responsive feeding and limit TV exposure during infancy.”

The latest research builds on a body of work that has shown a link between increased screen time, poor eating habits and obesity.

Excessive weight gain in pregnancy predisposes babies to childhood obesity

Likewise, a major study that looked at 41,133 women in Arkansas found that those who gained excessive weight during pregnancy also predisposed their babies to childhood obesity. The research was published in PLoS last October.

(AFP Relaxnews)

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