Preventing_Child_Hood_Obesity

Preventing Childhood Obesity July 9, 2012 Preventing Childhood Obesity The topic I have decided on is childhood obesity. I have picked this topic for two reasons. The first reason is that I have a son who is overweight so I am interested in what can be done to help him. Second, I have spent the last year and half on criminal justice classes and I am looking for a change of pace. I believe that I can not only write a great paper on this topic, but also find information that may help my son. Childhood obesity is a very broad topic. I plan on defining it and listing the possible causations and then prevention methods. I believe preventing it in the first place is the most important thing because; if it is prevented then the problems associated with it will not be as important. I limited it to prevention, particularly from gestation to pre-school age children, after conducting preliminary research. Research showed that school age prevention programs are not successful; however those aimed from gestation until age five are successful. It is important for the health of the child to prevent the problem from occurring rather than waiting and having to deal with the problem after it occurs (Birch & Ventura, 2009). The main theme I want to argue in this paper is that parents must think about childhood obesity from day one. Doctor’s checkups on a regular basis can make parents aware of the problem before it gets out of hand. I would like to stress the importance of checkups and following the advice of a pediatrician when it comes to feeding. I want to include information about breastfeeding, versus bottle feeding, and when it is appropriate to introduce solid foods. Research shows that for every month of breast feeding, the child is four percent less likely to experience obesity. Also, introducing solid foods before months can also be a factor in obesity. Of course you can discuss this problem without also looking at underlying problems such as demographics and socioeconomic statuses (Dolinsky, Siegariz, Perrin, & Armstrong, 2011). There are several causes to Childhood obesity, however prevention is possible. References Birch, L. L., & Ventura, A. K. (2009). Preventing childhood obesity: what works' International Journal Of Obesity, 33(1), 74-81. Dolinsky, D., Siegariz, A., Perrin, E., & Armstrong, S. (2011). Recognizing and preventing childhood obesity. Contemporary Pediatrics, 28(1), 32-42.