A typical 3-year-old weighs about 30 pounds. Xiao Hao, a three-year-old child from Guangzhou in South China, weighs 110 pounds more than that. He was recently expelled from several preschools because he is considered a hazard to the health of the other students.
Doctors are divided on the cause of Xiao Hao’s size. Many feel that he has a metabolic disorder, while others seem to think that he is a victim of so-called “Little Emperor” syndrome, an affect of the one child policy currently under law in China. They feel that the only child is a spoiled child and that Hao has been pampered, literally, almost to death.
Hao has since found a new school that will allow him to enroll, and his mother has requested that doctors try to find a cause. She has tried to help him lose weight with swimming but has a difficult time finding swim trunks to fit.
“He is not just overweight but very tall as well so we may be able to treat him if it really is hormonal. But he cannot remain like this or his heart will never stand the strain,” said Dr Lu Hong from the Guangdong Childen’s Hospital.
via Gawker
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User Feedback
(Page 1 of 1, 4 total comments)JimmyC
Agreed - the swimming comment feels like a cop out!
posted Oct 27th, 2010 10:07 pmMaris
This is SO sad! I hope his parents are doing everything they can to help him lose weight in a healthy way!
posted Oct 27th, 2010 6:57 pmKelly Turner
RE: swim trunks. That's what I was thinking- he's 3, let him swim naked or in his undies
posted Oct 27th, 2010 6:01 pmBrandi
A very sad story indeed and I hope the doctors and parents are able to find the reason and treat it as soon as possible.
posted Oct 27th, 2010 5:40 pmSwim trunks shouldn't be an excuse to stay out of the water, swim naked if you have to. Or find any of a thousand other activities to do that any 3yo would revel in.