New Guidelines For Measuring The Growth Rates Of Babies
Why Are New Guidelines Necessary?
The WHO is to issue new guidelines for measuring the growth rates of new babies. Currently, growth charts are based on data from mostly formula fed babies from twenty years ago.
Breast fed babies put on weight less quickly than formula (bottle) fed babies and so can show as underweight. The new growth charts will include data from breast fed babies.
Research has been conducted in over eight thousand babies from six countries where breast feeding, healthy diets and infection control were commonplace.
How Out Of Date Are Current Charts?
The current charts suggest that a healthy one year old should weight between 10.2 and 12.93 kilogrammes, (22.5 – 28.5 pounds.)
The WHO already recommend that mothers breastfeed their babies wherever possible as breast milk contains all the nutrients that are required to keep a baby healthy. Research also shows a positive correlation between breast milk and a lower risk of obesity and lower blood pressure in later life. Furthermore, babies who put on weight too quickly, are more likely to suffer from diabetes, higher blood pressure, obesity and higher cholesterol in later life.
Professor Alan Lucas, a child nutrition expert at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, said: "The growth of breast fed babies is more ideal than the growth of babies fed on formula - it is better for babies to grow more slowly. In the past everybody thought it was best to have big bonny babies, but interestingly, just about ever other animal species shows disadvantages in terms of long-term health if the infants grow too fast."
Rosie Dodds, Policy Research Officer at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), said: "These new growth standards should help ensure more babies benefit from breastmilk for longer and we look forward to their implementation across the UK as soon as possible."
In the UK, the Department of Health has said it will consider the WHO's new recommendations before deciding if UK charts need to be reviewed.
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