HHS HealthBeat (July 18, 2012)

How big is your baby

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

There are big kids, and too-big kids, and researchers say many moms can’t tell the difference. At the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Erin Hager had low-income moms of overweight toddlers choose silhouettes that the moms thought represented the size of their child. 

“Ninety-four percent of mothers of overweight toddlers chose a silhouette that was two or more images smaller than their child’s true body size.”

Dr. Hager says mothers of normal-weight toddlers also estimated wrong.

This doesn’t mean toddlers should go on diets. But Hager says mothers do need to watch what their kids eat, whether they’re active enough – and whether they’re big, or right-sized.

The study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: July 17, 2012