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 That’s because by first grade, kids with younger siblings are much
less likely to be obese.
Children who didn’t welcome a baby brother or sister into the family
before first grade had almost triple the odds of obesity compared
with kids who experienced the birth of a sibling when they were
around three to four years old, the study found.
The study doesn’t prove that being an only child will cause obesity
or show how adding a new baby to family might help older kids
maintain a healthy weight.
But the results suggest that parents may make lifestyle changes
after expanding the family that could be good to try even before
another baby arrives, said senior study author Dr. Julie Lumeng, a
pediatrics and public health researcher at the University of
Michigan and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.
“It is possible that when there is a younger sibling in the family,
a child might become more active – for example running around more
with their toddler sibling,” Lumeng said by email.
“Maybe families are more likely to take the kids to the park when
there is a younger sibling, or maybe the child is less likely to be
sedentary, watching TV, when there is a younger sibling to engage
them in more active pretend play,” Lumeng added.
Mealtimes might also be different with a second kid in at the table.
Parents of only children can sometimes be controlling or
hyper-focused about what their kid eats, which can potentially lead
to bad eating habits, some previous research suggests.
“When parents use restrictive (e.g. keep food from children) or
pressure-to-eat feeding practices (e.g. try to get kids to eat more
food), children have an increased risk of being overweight,” said
Jerica Berge, a researcher at the University of Minnesota who wasn’t
involved in the study.
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“When a new child is introduced, parents may relax their
preoccupation with the older child’s eating behaviors, allowing the
older child to respond to their own satiety cues and self-regulate
their eating,” Berge added by email. “This self-regulation may lead
to a healthier weight trajectory for the child with a sibling
compared to a child without a sibling.”
For the current study, Lumeng and colleagues followed 697 U.S.
children from birth through age 6.
At age 6, the kids without siblings were more likely to have
higher-than-average weight for their height than their peers who did
have a younger brother or sister, researchers report in the journal
Pediatrics, March 11.
Limitations of the study include the lack of objectively measured
birth weights and information on events such a divorce, move or job
loss in the family – all of which can influence the odds that
children might become obese – the authors note.
Other factors that can impact child obesity including parental
weight, maternal weight gain or diabetes, breastfeeding, early
introduction of solid food, family meals, bedtime routines, TV time
and physical activity, noted Dr. Sandra Hassink, medical director of
the American Academy of Pediatrics Institute for a Healthy Childhood
Weight.
“This is a very interesting study that makes an observation but
there is not enough information yet to understand why children
without siblings would be heavier,” Hassink, who wasn’t involved in
the study, said by email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1UlJ6bJ
Pediatrics 2016.
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