By Joanna Dolgoff

In many cultures, including our own, a chunky baby is considered a healthy baby. Even I, a child obesity expert, was proud of my infants” fat rolls, taking them as a sign that my body was providing all the milk my baby needed to grow strong. As a general pediatrician, I have seen many nervous parents worried that their newborns were too thin. I almost never saw parents who were worried that their baby was too chubby.

Yet now, researchers are warning that babies who gain weight rapidly in the first six months of life are at a much greater risk of becoming obese toddlers.