1. Introduction

Around a quarter of children are already overweight by the time they start school. The Babies at Greater Risk of Overweight, or BabyGRO, training programme aims to help healthcare professionals identify infants who are at increased risk of becoming overweight children and tailor their support to help parents* manage the growth of those infants.

This learning resource will help you understand why early identification is important and to increase your knowledge when identifying specific risk factors for child overweight, those that can be identified in the first year of life.

BabyGRO part 1 will also introduce the Infant Risk of Overweight Checklist (IROC). It will show how IROC can be used in practice from 3-4 months of age to identify those at high risk of becoming overweight children. The IROC tool can be used for infants aged 0-1 years. It should be applied in conjunction with professional assessment of parental support needs, particularly for infants who are exclusively breast fed.

If you would like to explore further the evidence behind BabyGRO there is a list of resources at the end of the training.

*Parents refers to carers, parents or legal guardians with responsibility for an infant or child.