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When to Wean from the Bottle?
The Bottom Line: The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends
that parents try to pry bottles out of their children's mouths once they
turn 16 months old. Based on new findings, it may be recommended that
weaning begin in children as young as a year of age.
Our Comment: With breastfeeding there are natural limits to how much milk a
baby gets, but with a bottle there are no such natural limits. Many lifelong
health problems, including obesity, begin in childhood. We should not
overfeed our babies.
Too many baby bottles can add pounds in kids
Last Updated: 2002-11-14 10:23:01 -0400
By Alison McCook
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters Health) - Toddlers and preschoolers who drink multiple
bottles of milk or sweet liquids each day are more likely than others to be
obese and to be anemic due to low levels of iron in their blood, according
to new study findings.
Author Richard Kahn of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York,
said that previous investigations into the impact drinking from bottles can
have on a child's health have focused mostly on the risk of tooth decay. But
the current findings suggest the effects could extend further than the
mouth, Kahn noted.
"We want to go beyond the view that (weaning off of a bottle) is just a
matter of tooth decay prevention," Kahn said during a presentation here
Wednesday during the 130th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health
Association.
Kahn and his team interviewed the parents of 95 children between the ages of
18 and 56 months who were visiting a site of the federal nutrition program
for poor US families known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Most of the children were either Latino
or African American.
The authors measured the levels of iron in the children's blood and
calculated their body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to
height used to gauge obesity.
Kahn and his team found that 64% of the children received at least three
bottles of milk or sweet liquids each day, with some parents reporting that
their children drink up to 10 bottles daily.
Many of the children were also either overweight or anemic due to low levels
of iron in their blood, the authors report. More than one third of the
children had BMIs that classified them as obese, and 21% were anemic.
Comparing bottle use to the rates of obesity and anemia, Kahn and his team
discovered that children who drank many bottles each day were more likely
than others to be obese or anemic.
Kahn explained that the calcium in milk can influence how well the body
absorbs iron from the diet, as can a milk protein known as casein.
In terms of the link between bottle feeding and obesity, the researcher
estimated that each milk-filled baby bottle contains 180 calories, and kids
who drink many bottles each day are likely getting all the calories they
need from their bottles. However, he noted that many parents do not realize
that drinking bottles can destroy a child's appetite. As a consequence,
either the child eats on top of drinking bottles--which can put him at risk
of obesity--or the child struggles against the parent who is forcing food on
him, leading to conflicts within the family.
The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that parents try to
pry bottles out of their children's mouths once they turn 16 months old.
However, based on these findings, Kahn recommended that weaning begin in
children as young as one year old.
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