For some infants, solid food too early may have hefty consequences

The March issue of Pediatrics presents some startling if unexplained findings about infant health. Researchers who conducted a study of 847 babies in eastern Massachusetts found that there was a 6.3 fold increase in the likelihood that a child would be obese at age three if a bottle-fed infant began eating solid foods before four months of age compared to bottle-fed infants who began eating solid foods after four months. The timing of solid food introduction did not increase the probability of obesity in breast-fed children.

The study authors had difficulty explaining their results.

ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross is equally perplexed, acknowledging that, “The numbers seem quite significant. However, I don’t understand why children who breast-feed and eat solid foods early on would have such different outcomes from babies who are only bottle-fed and eat solids early on. But the data are hard to argue with.”