Don t be a baby: Bottle after one year may only feed obesity

A new study may offer parents a fat incentive to wean their children off baby bottles before they reach their first birthday. Reporting in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia found that, based on their study of 6,750 U.S. children, those who were still bottle-fed at age two were 33 percent more likely to be obese at the age of five than those weaned earlier. Lead author Rachel A Gooze, a doctoral candidate in public health, believes that the bottle could lead to excessive caloric intake. For instance, Gooze noted that if an average-sized two year old girl drinks an eight ounce bottle of whole milk at bedtime, that would meet 12 percent of her calorie needs for the day.

Pediatricians currently advise parents to replace bottles with toddler-friendly cups when their children are about 12 to 14 months old, or even sooner.

ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan points out that prolonged bottle feeding could also affect dental health. “Many dentists will tell you that the worst thing you can do, as far as dental health goes, is to give your child a bottle of milk before bed. That increases the risk of cavities later on.”
Another consequence of prolonged bottle feeding, as Dr. Marc S. Jacobson, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Obesity Leadership Workgroup, tells Reuters Health, is that it interferes with kids’ transition to eating solid food, particularly vegetables. Pediatricians generally recommend that parents begin to introduce solid food once their child reaches six months, and some recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months.