When infants attend day care in someone else's home, they're more likely to be heavier than average by the time they're toddlers.
When infants attend day care in someone else's home, they're more likely to be heavier than average by the time they're toddlers.
Rapid weight gain during the first two years of life has been linked to becoming overweight later in childhood. It is also associated with higher blood pressure and wheezing in childhood and in adulthood. A large number of infants in the United States are in non-parental child care but little is known about the effect of child care on development of obesity.
To examine the relationship between child care attendance from birth to 6 months and weight gain at 1 and 3 years of age, researchers identified 649 infants who were placed in some sort of child care before they were six months old. The nature of child care included child care center, someone else's home or care in their own home by a non-parent. Half of the babies included in the study were female. The growth charts used in the study were from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which paediatricians commonly use to assess a child's height and weight, and which takes into account the child's age.
Of the babies who were in child care, the average number of hours spent in day care was 11 per week, care at home by someone other than a parent averaged 10 hours a week, and care in someone else's home (which could include a family member, friend, neighbor, or licensed care provider) averaged 12 hours a week.
It was found that the more time a child spent in day care, the heavier the child was. Moreover, the weight increased as the number of hours spent in day care increased. But when the researchers further analysed the data, they discovered that this relationship was only significant when care was provided in someone else's home, and that it wasn't an issue when care was provided in the child's home or at a day-care center.
It's not clear why this type of care may lead to heavier children. The researchers speculated that it could be a characteristic of the families that choose this type of care, or it could have something to do with this less formal day-care setting.
Rapid weight gain during the first two years of life has been linked to becoming overweight later in childhood. It is also associated with higher blood pressure and wheezing in childhood and in adulthood. A large number of infants in the United States are in non-parental child care but little is known about the effect of child care on development of obesity.
To examine the relationship between child care attendance from birth to 6 months and weight gain at 1 and 3 years of age, researchers identified 649 infants who were placed in some sort of child care before they were six months old. The nature of child care included child care center, someone else's home or care in their own home by a non-parent. Half of the babies included in the study were female. The growth charts used in the study were from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which paediatricians commonly use to assess a child's height and weight, and which takes into account the child's age.
Of the babies who were in child care, the average number of hours spent in day care was 11 per week, care at home by someone other than a parent averaged 10 hours a week, and care in someone else's home (which could include a family member, friend, neighbor, or licensed care provider) averaged 12 hours a week.
It was found that the more time a child spent in day care, the heavier the child was. Moreover, the weight increased as the number of hours spent in day care increased. But when the researchers further analysed the data, they discovered that this relationship was only significant when care was provided in someone else's home, and that it wasn't an issue when care was provided in the child's home or at a day-care center.
It's not clear why this type of care may lead to heavier children. The researchers speculated that it could be a characteristic of the families that choose this type of care, or it could have something to do with this less formal day-care setting.
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