A girl of five has been taken into care because she weighed more than 10 stone, it was revealed yesterday. The girl is one of the heaviest of her age ever recorded in the UK and at her peak weight of 10st 10lbs, was more than three times the typical weight for a girl of five. Yesterday experts criticised the failure to identify the youngster’s problem earlier and said the authorities should do more to monitor obesity in pre-school years. Details of the case were revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the local authority refused to reveal more information for fear of identifying the child. It is not known whether any adults had been arrested over her care. The child, from Newport, South Wales, was taken into care in August last year because she weighed 10st 5lbs. Her weight increased to 10st 10lbs two months later, but dropped to below 8st this September. Earlier this year it was revealed that more than 900 children, including 101 under-fives, had been admitted to hospital because of obesity in the past three years. Tam Fry, of the Child Growth Foundation, said the Newport case highlighted the need for proper weight monitoring before children started primary school. He added: ‘We are failing our children hugely by not monitoring their growth from a very early age. About 25 per cent of our primary school entrants are seriously overweight.’ Commenting on the Newport case, he said he found it ‘a(chǎn)bsolutely astounding’ the problem wasn’t picked up earlier. Mr Fry added: ‘She would have been out and about and all over the place. Nursery school teachers will have seen her, probably she has been taken to the doctors several times, therefore the surgery staff and the doctor will have seen her. ‘It just throws up a whole problem of people wishing not to mention weight in case it upsets the parents or upsets the child.’ Mr Fry added: ‘This is the tip of the iceberg. There will be an enormous amount of children overweight, possibly dangerously overweight, where even the parents don’t recognise it.’ Joanna Nicolas, a child protection consultant, said the Newport case was among the most extreme she had heard of in her 18-year career. ‘I have never come across a five-year-old who weighs 10st,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t somebody do something sooner rather than picking it up at this stage?’ Politicians in Newport called for answers about how the girl was allowed to get so fat. Conservative councillor Tom Suller said: ‘It’s a sad sign of the times. It’s really terrible that a child can end up this way. ‘There are a lot of obese parents out there and their children are ending up exactly the same way. ‘There are other children in this sort of state – it’s a ticking time bomb. A lot of people just think, “I’ll get a KFC tonight and McDonald’s tomorrow”. They don’t consider the consequences.’ A Newport Council spokesman said: ‘The wellbeing of children and young people is of paramount importance and at the heart of all the work that is done by our children’s services department. ‘It would be inappropriate to comment further on this case in the best interests of the chil |
據(jù)英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》12月8日?qǐng)?bào)道,一名5歲的英國(guó)女童曾因體重超過(guò)10英石(約63.5公斤)被送進(jìn)醫(yī)院接受治療。 這個(gè)女童是南威爾士紐波特人。去年8月,她因體重達(dá)到約65.8公斤被送進(jìn)醫(yī)院治療。兩個(gè)月后,她的體重增加到約68公斤,超過(guò)5歲女孩正常體重的3倍多,成為英國(guó)有史以來(lái)這個(gè)年齡最重的孩子之一。今年9月,她的體重降到8英石(約50.8公斤)以下。 根據(jù)《信息自由法案》的要求,當(dāng)?shù)卣_了相關(guān)細(xì)節(jié),但是因?yàn)閾?dān)心泄露孩子的身份,它沒(méi)有透露更多信息。目前尚不清楚是否有照顧孩子的成年人被捕。 兒童成長(zhǎng)基金會(huì)的塔姆·弗里表示,沒(méi)能更早地解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題“真的很令人吃驚”。他說(shuō):“幼兒園老師應(yīng)該見過(guò)她,她有可能多次被帶去看醫(yī)生,因此外科醫(yī)生應(yīng)該也見過(guò)她……這只是冰山一角。將來(lái)會(huì)有大量的兒童超重,有可能是危險(xiǎn)的超重,而就連家長(zhǎng)也意識(shí)不到這個(gè)問(wèn)題。” 兒童保護(hù)顧問(wèn)喬安娜·尼古拉斯表示,紐波特的這起案例是她18年工作生涯中遇到的最極端的一個(gè)。“我從未見過(guò)5歲的孩子體重有10英石的。為什么沒(méi)有人早些采取措施?” 保守黨議員湯姆·舒勒說(shuō):“這是時(shí)代的悲哀信號(hào)。一個(gè)孩子變成這個(gè)樣子真的很可怕。現(xiàn)在有許多肥胖的家長(zhǎng),他們的孩子正在步其后塵……很多人只想著‘我今晚要吃肯德基,明天要吃麥當(dāng)勞’,卻沒(méi)考慮到后果。” 紐波特議會(huì)發(fā)言人說(shuō):“兒童和年輕人的健康是頭等大事,是我們兒童服務(wù)部門所有工作的核心。” 今年早些時(shí)候,英國(guó)有900多個(gè)孩子因肥胖住院,其中5歲以下兒童有101名。 相關(guān)閱讀 寒潮來(lái)襲美國(guó)多地降雪降溫 加州4人被”凍死“ 南非總統(tǒng)祖馬就前總統(tǒng)曼德拉去世發(fā)表全國(guó)講話(中英對(duì)照) 英國(guó)首相卡梅倫開通中文微博 獲大批粉絲關(guān)注 【記者手記】“微博”向年輕的中國(guó)人推廣英倫風(fēng)情 (譯者 yuanlu 編輯 嚴(yán)玉潔) |