Child weight surgery becoming more common

[AOII_LB93]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16981527/
NEW YORK - As the popularity of stomach surgery has skyrocketed among obese adults, a growing number of doctors are asking, “Why not children, too?”

For decades, the number of kids trying weight-loss surgery has been tiny. The operations themselves were risky, with a death rate of about 1 in 50. Children rarely got that fat, and when they did, pediatricians hesitated to put the developing bodies under the knife. Only 350 U.S. kids had such an operation in 2004, according to federal statistics.

Read the rest from the link above...pretty sad if you ask me. I don't think kids should be getting gastric bypass...and my question is, are they educating these children's parents about proper eating when they show up at these clinics wanting the surgery? What kind of impact does this have on these kids? Is it teaching them that you can go ahead and get fat if you have 25K for the surgery later on?

I'm still pondering the issue.

[James]

Wow.

I know a lot of people that have done one of those two surgeries and they readily admit they had to get them because they never excercised self-will when it comes to food or activity level.

Its hard to control the time of the adult, but wouldn't it be equally effective to put a child in a "fat" camp for some time? You could totally control their calories and activity.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by James

Wow.

I know a lot of people that have done one of those two surgeries and they readily admit they had to get them because they never excercised self-will when it comes to food or activity level.

Its hard to control the time of the adult, but wouldn't it be equally effective to put a child in a "fat" camp for some time? You could totally control their calories and activity.

Have you seen the 5 year old that weighs about 300 lbs? She's the size of 4 "regular" 5 year old girls.

She eats uncontrollably and can barely walk. It's sad. She screams when her mom tries to give her health food.

The family is getting an intervention. I wonder what they will end up doing with her.

[James]

Hmm. I have to admit I have never thought about someone that young being that heavy.

I think the pilot study was done on 13-17 year olds.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Have you seen the 5 year old that weighs about 300 lbs? She's the size of 4 "regular" 5 year old girls.

She eats uncontrollably and can barely walk. It's sad. She screams when her mom tries to give her health food.

The family is getting an intervention. I wonder what they will end up doing with her.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by James

Hmm. I have to admit I have never thought about someone that young being that heavy.

I think the pilot study was done on 13-17 year olds.

Yeah. Maury Povich has made a spectacle of obese kids under a certain age. I wonder if he actually helps the kids instead of just helping his ratings.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Have you seen the 5 year old that weighs about 300 lbs? She's the size of 4 "regular" 5 year old girls.

She eats uncontrollably and can barely walk. It's sad. She screams when her mom tries to give her health food.

The family is getting an intervention. I wonder what they will end up doing with her.

Damn.

Usually "failure to thrive" is used to describe underweight children. Considering that childhood obesity is just as (if not more) harmful, it would seem that allowing your child to become 300lbs at the age of 5 should be considered child abuse in the same manner that not providing enough food is.

Those parents (that parent) need(s) to be able to tell that 5 year old "no," or that kid needs to go into protective services.

I seriously question a society that allows people like that to pop out babies.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Damn.

Usually "failure to thrive" is used to describe underweight children. Considering that childhood obesity is just as (if not more) harmful, it would seem that allowing your child to become 300lbs at the age of 5 should be considered child abuse in the same manner that not providing enough food is.

Those parents (that parent) need(s) to be able to tell that 5 year old "no," or that kid needs to go into protective services.

I seriously question a society that allows people like that to pop out babies.

The mother is also overweight. She showed her refrigerator and there was health food in there. Perhaps because she ditched the junk food for the interview and stocked up on health foods.

There's an actual illness that causes people to overeat so I don't know if child abuse accusations would hold.

They showed the little girl waddling around and trying to sit up--even gave slow motion effects. Her face was distorted due to her weight. Very sad but, I have admit, also grotesque looking. Sympathy and shock is the effect the media was probably going for.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The mother is also overweight. She showed her refrigerator and there was health food in there. Perhaps because she ditched the junk food for the interview and stocked up on health foods.

There's an actual illness that causes people to overeat so I don't know if child abuse accusations would hold.

They showed the little girl waddling around and trying to sit up--even gave slow motion effects. Her face was distorted due to her weight. Very sad but, I have admit, also grotesque looking. Sympathy and shock is the effect the media was probably going for.

Disability or no, that mother is not a fit parent (at least judging by the information presented here). That kid needs to go into protective custody.

I'm sure that with proper counseling, etc., mom could be educated on how to provide for her child, but currently, the kid is facing a lifetime of disability because of what mother allows it to consume.

The situation should not have been allowed to become this serious. In a society where parents are reported to human services for underweight kids, don't you think grotesquely overweight kids merit the same children as they are being exposed to similar risks?

In the UK, it seems that they agree with me FWIW.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1774

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Disability or no, that mother is not a fit parent (at least judging by the information presented here). That kid needs to go into protective custody.

I'm sure that with proper counseling, etc., mom could be educated on how to provide for her child, but currently, the kid is facing a lifetime of disability because of what mother allows it to consume.

The situation should not have been allowed to become this serious. In a society where parents are reported to human services for underweight kids, don't you think grotesquely overweight kids merit the same children as they are being exposed to similar risks?

In the UK, it seems that they agree with me FWIW.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1774

There are obesity problems in the UK, but nowhere near the amount that exists in the US. Portion-wise, the UK has it correct, but the abundance of junkfood would make Americans weep (some with joy, some with despair. I'm a joy person myself).
I understand that these children and teenagers undergo a lot of other methods to lose the weight before resorting to surgery, but I still don't think this is right. Unless it's a genetic condition like the disease that affects your hunger mechanism and causes over-eating, weight can be controlled. It's all about education and lifestyle changes. Children are young enough that it can be done, both for their parents and for themselves. But they'd have to be pro-active and patient about it, and I feel that a lot of parents wouldn't have the patience.
I don't know; this article provides a lot of fodder for thought.
And oh god Maury...those poor kids...those kids weigh more than me right now.

[AGDee]

Several random thoughts:
1. Anorexia and Bulimia get a lot of funding and press, but there are few opportunities for treatment of compulsive overeating. The behaviors that lead to extreme obesity (binging, sneak eating, etc) are very similar to the behaviors of an anorexic or bulimic but aren't treated in a similar manner.

2. Kids' activity levels have dropped significantly due to numerous changes in our society, especially the "safety" factor. Think about it.. when I was a kid, during the summer, we were running all over the neighborhood, playing sports, riding bikes, skating, swimming. We'd leave the house early in the day, stop in at home for lunch, then back out til dinner, then back out "until the street lights went on", only checking in occasionally and nobody worried about where we were every minute. In this day and age, you can't let your kid run the neighborhood without being supervised, and who can supervise all that activity all day long? People are working and day care centers have like two outdoor play times. The rest of the time, kids are in classrooms. Our kids don't walk to school because it's not safe to send them off, often in the dark of the morning. They get rides or ride a bus to school now. We have to find a way, as a society, to compensate for these changes, perhaps through more gym classes in school? Our elementary kids get about 60 minutes of gym class a week. By the time they get home from latch key, eat dinner and do homework, it's bedtime. I can't speak for all latch key programs, but in ours, they tend to put on a television and make the kids watch TV during latch key. It's one of the reasons I stopped sending my son to afternoon latch key.

3. The snack situation: We never had snacks in school. I was shocked at how often they want kids to eat at school. Again, my experiences are limited to my own kids' school, but this how it looked in first grade:
8:00 am Breakfast at latch key (if they bought breakfast, it was a donut, piggle stick, bagel, poptart or french toast stick.. I always sent Cheerios.. the only cereal my kids ate)
9:30 am Morning Snack (sent by parents, I sent fruit)
11:30 am Lunch (I'll get into school lunches next)
1:30 pm Afternoon Snack (again, sent by parents, but my son often "traded" their carrots or celery sticks for stuff like twinkies or cookies that other kids brought)
3:30 pm Latch Key snack (sent by parents... again, often traded!)
Do they need to eat that many times a day? I stopped sending the snacks after a while and packed a good healthy lunch with a sandwich, salad or carrots, a fruit, a low fat yogurt and bottled water and told my kids that if they wanted a snack, to save something from their lunch. I later found out that my son was buying Little Debbies and cookies with his allowance money every single day at lunch. I had no way of knowing this until he and my daughter ate lunch at the same time and SHE told me.

4. Our school lunch menu now has info on "the average school lunch" and it's nutritional value. Some stats:
685 calories
26.3 G fat
7.6 G Saturated Fat
85.5 Carbs
29 G Protein

FDA recommends DAILY: (first number is age 4-8, second number for age 9-13)
Calories: 1300 1700 (making lunch HALF of a 7 year olds total daily intake)
Fat: 43 G 56 G (making lunch fat far more than HALF of what a 7 year old should eat daily)

I see a problem there.

5. I'm NOT eliminating parental responsibility at all, but I think it's important that parents understand what the kids are eating at school. I admit, I didn't pay attention to that.

6. Last random thought: Young kids generally self-regulate how much they need to eat. Encouraging them to be in the "clean plate club" is not a good idea, but don't let them eat junk later when they haven't had fruits/veggies/protein that day. I think something is probably physically wrong with a child who eats enough to weigh 300 pounds at age 5. I have always read/been told that it takes 20 minutes to know that you're full/satisfied, but I can honestly say that about 2 hours after I've eaten is when I feel "full". That makes it very difficult to self-regulate without simply educating yourself that you only need a certain portion of food to fuel your body. It's difficult to still feel VERY hungry 30 minutes after you've eaten a full meal. I've noticed a similar tendency in my kids (who are both overweight, although not to the extreme noted above). I watch them eat a good meal, good portion sizes and still complain about being hungry. I've discussed this with doctors and none have known about any research in this area. If anybody is aware of any, I'd love the info on it.

I think bariatric is necessary for some people but I fear that too many are jumping to it too quickly as an "easy fix" when you still have to learn to eat right and make time for exercise

Dee (who has lost 35 pounds over the last year through very careful elimination of certain foods and portion control, but still wants to lose about 60 more pounds)

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Kevin

The situation should not have been allowed to become this serious. In a society where parents are reported to human services for underweight kids, don't you think grotesquely overweight kids merit the same children as they are being exposed to similar risks?

Yes, depending on the nature and extent of the problem.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Several random thoughts:
1. Anorexia and Bulimia get a lot of funding and press, but there are few opportunities for treatment of compulsive overeating. The behaviors that lead to extreme obesity (binging, sneak eating, etc) are very similar to the behaviors of an anorexic or bulimic but aren't treated in a similar manner.

There's still debate as to whether there's an overeating "gene."

The Health Channel (I think) shows repeats of the obesity episode with the guy who lost like 700 lbs only to gain it back and MORE. Michael something--Richard Simmons was like his best buddy and now cries because the guy fell so hard off the wagon.

Another dude they showcased was in the hospital for weight surgery. He had convinced himself that it wasn't overeating but instead genetics. He ate the same types of foods and in the same moderation as someone who isn't overweight. All of this while they showed him and his wife's FILTHY kitchen. Dishes in the sink, trash falling out of the trash can--pizza boxes, soda cans. Gross. When they asked his wife "what does he eat," he interrupted her before she could formulate a good answer and said "I'm tired of that question--we're not talking about food here we're talking genetics." Her face was like ""

[Taualumna]

I can't speak for all latch key programs, but in ours, they tend to put on a television and make the kids watch TV during latch key. It's one of the reasons I stopped sending my son to afternoon latch key.

Dee, you mean they don't have a quiet place for a kid to do homework? And do the schools make the kids eat snacks during the snack period? When I was in elementary school, morning and afternoon snacks (brought from home) could be taken during recess, but no one really even had time to eat. Too busy playing.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Several random thoughts:
4. Our school lunch menu now has info on "the average school lunch" and it's nutritional value. Some stats:
685 calories
26.3 G fat
7.6 G Saturated Fat
85.5 Carbs
29 G Protein

FDA recommends DAILY: (first number is age 4-8, second number for age 9-13)
Calories: 1300 1700 (making lunch HALF of a 7 year olds total daily intake)
Fat: 43 G 56 G (making lunch fat far more than HALF of what a 7 year old should eat daily)

I see a problem there.

Part of the reason that there is so much of the daily allowance in school lunches is that that is the only meal that some kids eat. I lived in a rather well off area, but there were still the kids that only ate lunch because they got it free, and they didn't eat at home.

[winnieb]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Have you seen the 5 year old that weighs about 300 lbs? She's the size of 4 "regular" 5 year old girls.

That is AWFUL! That isn't even the size of 4 regular 5 yr olds-- that would be 75lbs a piece and I consider that heavy for a 5 yr old.
Any mother that allows her child to gain that much weight should be charged with child endangerment!

I have a friend whose nephews are seriously overweight-- the 4 yr old outweighs my 5 and 8 yr olds combined-- and the 13 yr old boy weighs about 230lbs right now. It is very sad!!!

My kids school does snacks during kindergarten and 1st grade. We have an approved list of food-- the snack bucket rotates so each family is responsible for buy snacks once a month for the entire class. If the snack is not on the approved list it cannot be served. The approved list includes: yogurt, fruit snacks, crackers, veggies, fruits, etc-- candy, cookies, cakes are not allowed.

My boys are very aware of the food they eat-- I think in our school healthy food and eating habits are very much pushed. Granted my kids love having happy meals and candy but they know how to read food labels, they learned it in PE. Both my kids make a point to exercise and worry about the food they eat (it is kind of odd to watch two little boys be concerned w/ the calories and fat in their food!) But both boys are very healthy and active---my 5yr old weighs 55lbs and the 8 yr old weighs 65lbs. For snacks at night they have fruit, they aren't allowed to sit around and play video games and watch tv, i do allow it- but they also must go out and move around.
I think it is a matter of parents taking control-- not always doing what is easy (like watching tv and handing out snack cakes) --but taking an active role in the kids lives and helping them develope a healthy lifestyle.