Introducing solid foods too early to bottle fed babies can increase rate of childhood obesity

Looking into those babies that were bottle fed and when they were introduced to solid foods has led researchers to make the discovery that it can influence and raise the likelihood of later having childhood obesity. The study looked at children who were either breast fed or bottle fed exclusively and if they introduced solid foods before the age of 4 months.

In children who were bottle fed exclusively and had solids introduced before the age of 4 months, the rates of childhood obesity rose more than 6.3 times the average by the time they were 3 years old.

Exclusively breast fed babies did not show the same results. This only reinforces the premise that breastfeeding children and introducing solid foods slowly after 4 to 6 months helps provide for a child's health well beyond their early years.

Source Pediatrics, 2011