A 10-month old baby from Libano, Colombia, has stunned doctors after gaining 38 pounds in 10months.
Juanita Valentina Hernandez weighed just six pounds at birth, but began piling on weight just weeks later. At now more than double the weight of a child her age, Juanita has been classed morbidly obese.
Jaunita’s mother Sandra says she is shocked by her daughter’s rapid weight gain, which is now equal to that of a 5-year old.
Speaking to media reporters, Sandra Franco has told other mothers to be strictly vigilant with their own children:
“To all mothers that have babies like this, please take care of our children if we don’t want them to get sick. Now she is 10 months old and I have realized that she has morbid obesity.
“When she was 15 days old she was already looking chubby, because she was born very thin. Until now I haven’t been able to treat her because I am unemployed and didn’t have the money.”
Colombian charity Chubby Hearts has now stepped forward, enrolling Jaunita and her mother into their weight loss programme.
Charity founder Salvador Palacio Gonzalez has set out to tackle the growing obesity problem in Colombia, which increasingly is affecting children in the country:
“Thousands of children in Colombia — and millions around the world — suffer with obesity. From Colombia we have formed an international alliance to help people who are overweight.”
Juanita is now the third baby Gonzalez has seen in the last year who weighs more than 40 pounds.
Video via Barcroft TV
