Those cute little rolls of fat some infants have may actually slow their ability to crawl and walk, according to a new study.

The study shows that infants, who are overweight, may be slower than thinner babies in developing motor skills, which include lifting one’s head, rolling over, sitting up, balancing, crawling and walking.

“This is concerning because children with motor skill delays may be less physically active and thus less likely to explore the environment beyond arm’s reach,” said Meghan Slining, nutrition doctoral student at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, who led the study.

The findings are based on observations of 217 first-time mothers, who participated in the study on Infant Care, Feeding and Risk of Obesity, a UNC research project funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The project is examining, in a population at risk of obesity, how parenting and infant feeding styles relate to infant diet and the risk of babies becoming overweight.

The mothers ranged in the age of 18 to 35 and their babies were 3 months old.

Researchers visited the mothers and infants in their homes between 2003 and 2007. They weighed and measured the children at each visit and also assessed their motor skills at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months.

The researchers found that overweight infants were about twice as likely (1.8 times) as non-overweight infants to have a low score on the Psychomotor Development Index test, reflecting delayed motor development.

Infants with high subcutaneous fat (rolls of fat under their skin) were more than twice as likely (2.32 times) as babies without fat rolls to have a low score, says an UNC release.

“There are a number of studies that show that weight status during the infancy and toddler years can set young children on an obesity trajectory that may be hard to change,” Slining said. “Our study shows that there are actually immediate consequences as well.” Slining added.

These findings were published online in The Journal of Paediatrics.

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IANS
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