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Grandparents who care for children ‘boost obesity risk’

February 25, 2010 by Sarah Newton  
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Young children who are regularly looked after by their grandparents have an increased risk of being overweight, an extensive British study has suggested.

Analysis of 12,000 three-year olds suggested the risk was 34% higher if grandparents cared for them full time.

The study used data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which looked at the health of children aged between nine months and three years old, who had been born in the UK between 2000 and 2001.

The results showed that those looked after by grandparents part-time had a 15% higher risk of being overweight for their age compared with those solely looked after by their parents.

Those who were cared for by their grandparents full-time had a 34% increased risk of being overweight, the University College London team found.

Wow shocking if you ask me…both my children have been cared for extensively by their Grandparents!

However I did get very clear what my values were and was and was not important to me when it came to their health  and verbalised them to their grandparents. If the mark was over stepped I reminded them of the conversation and things got back on track quickly. Parents need to treat any childcare the same and get clear how they want to be treated and not just assume because it is their grandparents they know what you want.

I think Grandparents do an amazing job and more support should be given to them regarding the childcare they provide.


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Tags: grandparent, healthy eating, obesity, Parenting

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7 Responses to “Grandparents who care for children ‘boost obesity risk’”
  1. Jessica says:
    February 25, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    The distinction was not made on the blurb you posted whether the children’s birth parents were alive, dead, or in jail. I have seen children raised by grandparents who are rail-thin, and also those that are overweight. The amount of stress on both parties will play a significant role in emotional feeding or eating.
    Two years ago I sent my 10 year old son to stay with his grandparents (plane trip) for 3 weeks. My parents know I’m a health nut and like to limit his sugar. They indulged him anyway and when he came back he was visibly fatter in the stomach and face. It took him about a year to slim down from 3 weeks of overeating junk food. I have a feeling that even if asked to feed grandchildren healthy foods, 34% of grandparents would choose not to!

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    • Sarah Newton says:
      February 27, 2010 at 2:30 am

      They are children who have parents and are looked after by the Grandparents when the parents are away or at work etc: Yes I think you are right not all will listen but having the conversation has to be better than not having it :-)

      Sarah

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