Health fears for babies weaned too early - on cakes

Babies only a few weeks old are being weaned on biscuits and cakes when all they should be getting is breast milk, researchers have found.

A study of 587 new mothers found almost a quarter had fed their babies biscuits, cakes and fruit juice by the age of six months. Some exposed to fatty, sweet and salty food were as young as four weeks.

International guidelines recommend feeding babies exclusively on breastmilk for the first six months. Such an early introduction to a poor diet might make young children pre-disposed to obesity, it is claimed.

Lead researcher Dr Jane Scott said: "Almost one in four mothers had introduced fruit juice, biscuits and cakes to their infants by six months of age.

"This is a worry, because eating habits developed early in life usually continue throughout a person's lifetime."