Cute? No, chubby babies face life of medical problems

We tend to think of chubby babies as cute — those rolls of fat only making them even more cuddly. However, it seems that view may be dangerously outdated. experts are warning that a boom in the number of babies being born obese is creating a catalogue of health problems for both mothers and their children.

Recent figures show more than 1,400 newborns have been classified as obese (weighing 9 lb 15 oz or more) in the UK since 2011. The average weight for a boy is 7 lb 8 oz and for a girl 7 lb 4 oz — around 2 oz higher than in 1971 — but a number of hospitals are now delivering so- called ‘sumo babies’, weighing 12 lb or more.

Last week, the country’s most senior children’s doctor criticised NHs antiobesity campaigns as ‘failures’ for focusing on intervening once obesity is established and not tackling the cause.

Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of paediatrics and Child Health, said the path towards obesity actually begins in the womb, with research showing babies born to very overweight mothers have already begun to accumulate fat around their stomachs.

There are two reasons why babies are born obese — or to use the medical term, macrosomic. one is their genes: larger adults are more likely to have larger babies. Another is that they simply receive more food in the womb than they need.

Akey factor in both is obesity in pregnant women. Five per cent of pregnant women in Britain are now obese, which in pregnancy means a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or more — and the number is rising.

These women are more likely to have obese babies, partly as they tend to eat lots of sugary foods during pregnancy, which are passed onto the baby in the womb and turn to fat. This can also be a problem among non- obese pregnant women who eat a high-sugar diet.

obese women may also pass on genes that programme their babies to handle fat in a way that makes them more likely to be obese.

And obese women are more likely to be resistant to insulin (the hormone that mops up sugar in the blood), as fat cells release chemicals that make the body less sensitive to it.

This is a major risk factor for development of gestational diabetes, which, in turn, increases the chance of having an obese baby.

so a substantial proportion of obese women (around 45 per cent) will have an obese baby.

professor David Haslam, a Gp specialising in obesity and who is chair of the National obesity Forum, says the problem of ‘mums who are fat having fat babies’ has now reached ‘epidemic’ levels. He adds it’s not just dangerous for the child, but the mother, too.

Carrying a very large baby is more likely to result in a difficult birth, which may injure the mother if she tries to deliver naturally, and often ends up requiring a caesarean.

And if the mother herself is obese, a caesarean is a trickier operation to perform, with an increased chance of complications such as wound infections, blood clots and blood loss.

Indeed, of the 295 maternal deaths reported in the UK between 2003 and 2005, almost one in four of the mothers was obese, with blood clots and heart disease among the most common causes.

For the baby, being obese at birth means they’re more at risk of shoulder dystocia, where their shoulders get stuck during delivery. This can cause breathing difficulties, raising the risk of oxygen starvation. It can also lead to erb’s palsy, permanent paralysis of the arm.

And if they are delivered by caesarean (more likely when a baby is obese), this increases risk of breathing difficulties, asthma, allergies and cardiovascular disease in later life. Yet another related problem is that if the mother has a high- sugar diet during pregnancy, this can cause the baby’s blood sugar levels to suddenly drop ( hypoglycemia) once they are no longer attached to this sugary food supply through the placenta. Research shows up to three in every 1,000 babies born develop hypoglycemia — which causes brain damage if left untreated — and it is a common cause of admission to a special care baby unit.

There are long-term health consequences of being an obese baby, too. Research shows they are more likely to grow up to be obese children and adults. professor Cyrus Cooper, director of the Medical Research Council Lifecourse epidemiology unit at the university of southampton, says: ‘If you’re fat as a child, you will have relatively high fat mass in middle age, which will put you at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and premature death.’

A review of studies in the International Journal of obesity in 2011 found that obese children and teenagers were up to five times more likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke as adults.

Professor Cooper adds that another concern is bone fractures. ‘ The body has a finite number of stem cells, which can form either fat, bone or muscle cells,’ he says.

‘In fat children, the stem cells are more likely to turn into fat cells, so these children are more likely to suffer bone fractures.’

But research shows the cycle can be broken if pregnant women are given health advice.

Last year, an Australian study of 2,200 obese pregnant women found those given healthy eating advice and who were encouraged to exercise during pregnancy to limit weight gain were 18 per cent less likely to have a heavy baby, compared with those who received standard care.