Dawn Patrol: July 14, 2009

Abby is healthy and happy, and she continues to develop ahead of schedule. She is 13 pounds and four ounces, up from 12 pounds two ounces a month ago. And she is 24 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height, so she is officially tall and skinny. It turns out that this fact is not insignificant. Parents magazine ran an article that quoted a study, published in Pediatrics (a medical journal) that suggests a correlation between children with a higher ratio of weight percentile to height percentile and childhood obesity.

From the Parent's magazine article:

A new study published in Pediatrics found that children whose weight gain outpaces gains in length in the first six months have a 40 percent risk of being obese by the time they're 3.

And here's the actual (abstract) conclusion from Pediatrics:

More-rapid increases in weight for length in the first 6 months of life were associated with sharply increased risk of obesity at 3 years of age. Changes in weight status in infancy may influence risk of later obesity more than weight status at birth.

Pediatrics is, of course, behind a subscription wall, so I couldn't get to the details of the study, but the sample size was only 559 children. So I wouldn't read too much into this. At any rate, Abby is healthy, and that's good!

She also got four shots yesterday, so she was a little fussy in the afternoon.

She continues to vocalize. Loudly. Her efforts are now centered on the baby roar. I suppose that she has decided that she needs to get her vocal cords in shape because she is definitely exercising them.

Abby and I will go to the big playgroup today, and Abby's friend will be coming to (along with Abby's friends Daddy).