EFFECTS OF BREAST CANCER RADIATION ON THE BODY

Emotional Distress

Underarm Hair Loss

Marking

Nerve Damage

Heart Damage

Skin Irritation

Fatigue

Skin Discoloration

Arm Swelling

Fractured Rib

Effects of Breast Cancer Radiation on the Body

Radiation therapy uses high-powered X-rays to kill cancer cells. It’s a type of targeted therapy often used in breast cancer treatment. The radiation may be aimed at the tumor site, the lymph nodes, or the chest wall. 

It attempts to stop 

cancer from spreading, or decrease the risk of recurrence.

External radiation treatment is typically given five times per week, for five to seven weeks. 

A newer approach gives larger doses of radiation over three weeks (accelerated breast irradiation). 

Most people tolerate radiation therapy well.

Your doctor may recommend internal radiation (brachytherapy). 

This is a procedure in which tiny pieces of radioactive material are placed around the tumor site. 

Total treatment time can range from hours to about a week. There are fewer short-term side effects 

with targeted therapy, and it spares healthy tissue. According to BreastCancer.org, 

the long-term side effects of this method are not yet known.

Short-Term Side Effects of Breast Cancer Radiation

The most common side effect of radiation therapy is skin irritation in the targeted area. 

After the first few treatments, your skin may feel sensitive and begin to turn pink.

 It may eventually begin to look and feel like a sunburn, with itching, peeling, or 

blistering. Soreness and tenderness are common. Any irritation may get worse as treatment continues. 

However, you can expect it to get better in the weeks following your final treatment.

You may lose underarm hair if the radiation was targeted to your underarm area. You might also 

perspire less under that arm. These side effects are usually temporary.

Many women undergoing breast cancer radiation experience growing fatigue as the weeks go by. 

Fatigue almost always begins to clear up within a few weeks of the last treatment.

Because it’s administered daily over many weeks, conventional external beam radiation therapy 

is a huge time commitment. The process can interfere with work and family responsibilities, 

especially if you lack transportation or don’t live close to a treatment facility.

You should plan on being there for 30 minutes to an hour, even though the actual treatment 

only takes about 10 minutes. Getting in position takes time and precision. The hectic daily

 schedule may cause you emotional upset, stress, or anxiety.

Long-Term Side Effects

Because radiation is targeted to a specific area of your body, your radiation team will 

spend a lot of time on “marking” prior to your first treatment. That is, they’ll take 

careful measurements to check and double-check that the radiation will hit the correct 

area and nothing else. Then they’ll make small ink marks on your skin to use as a guide for future

 treatments. These marks are typically tattooed onto your skin permanently.

It could take months or years for skin to return to normal color if it gets significantly darker at

 the site of radiation. In some cases, minor discoloration may be permanent, or skin may appear 

thicker or firmer. Skin sensitivity or tenderness can sometimes last for months.

Radiation can cause some nerve damage resulting in numbness and pain. Radiation therapy can limit your reconstruction options or your ability to breastfeed. These are risks you should discuss with your doctor before you begin treatment.

Rare Side Effects

If you had lymph nodes removed before getting radiation, you’re at increased 

risk of a blockage of the lymph system (lymphedema). This can cause swelling 

of the arm where the nodes were removed.

Other rare complications include:

• fractured rib due to weakened rib cage
• inflamed lung tissue
• heart damage when radiation is given on the left side of the chest
• secondary cancer caused by radiation

Tell your doctor if you’re experiencing shortness of breath, trouble swallowing, or chest pain.

Dealing with Breast Cancer Radiation Side Effects

You can’t necessarily avoid side effects of radiation therapy, but there are some things 

you can do to minimize them.

Wear loose-fitting clothing if you’re experiencing skin irritation. If you wear a bra, choose one 

without underwire.

Ask your doctor if there are special products you should use on your skin while bathing.

 Check with your medical team before using ointments or creams on the treated area. 

Try not to rub or scratch the area, and avoid ice packs and heating pads.

Fight fatigue by getting plenty of rest. Give your body the nutrition it needs to repair itself. 

Report any side effects to your radiation oncologist.

- See more at: 

Extraordinary Personality

A Tribute to an Extraordinary Person-The Quirks of Arfa

here When Arfa was 9, newspapers and television anchors talked ceaselessly about how becoming the youngest Microsoft professional had made her the “Wonder kid” of our nation. They portrayed her as this scholarly and somewhat highly intellectualised figure. The image of a child who liked nothing more than to glue her eyes to a computer screen, and saw what no one else could perceive behind the monitor’s glass. Most of us have in fact seen the famous photograph of her in Redmond Washington, standing alongside the Microsoft headquarters. She seemed as if she was always meant to be there, a God-gifted computer genius. But today I don’t want to talk about her intelligence and abilities. Instead, I want to focus on the things that increased my praise and admiration for her more than any of her academic achievements ever could.

Recalling one of her very first experiences with computer, Arfa once said “When you push a button, something magically appears on the box.” As much as I would like to portray this simple quote as something remarkably astute, I must point out that it isn’t so. These are simply the words of a child who merely chose not to give up on her imagination – something every child is born with. This reminds me of something Einstein once said:

 
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Arfa not only imagined what no one else did, but she also made her imagination come true.

All children have dreams about one day doing something extraordinary but as we grow up, what we call the realities of life,  slowly start setting in and at some unknown point in our lives, we become afraid to dream big. That’s one thing Arfa never did. She always knew, if you don’t dream big then what’s the point in dreaming. At 9, Arfa said, she would like to go to Harvard University or MIT, and then either go to work for Microsoft, in its developer division, or become a satellite engineer.

At 16, her dreams still hadn’t changed. In fact, they had become even more ambitious.

Among the things that aren't generally known about Arfa are the facts that she was amazingly humble, energetic, driven to help others, unafraid to ask questions and that she could fly a plane. Yes, a plane. I have lost count of the number of small kids I have met who say that they want to grow up to be pilots but Arfa didn’t wait till she grew up. Oh and did you know she liked Ghazals and even sang them! She was taken from us too soon, and perhaps the youth has felt the pain more so than anyone else.

More than her intelligence, I believe that these little things are what made Arfa the extraordinary person that she was and I am sure she would want to be remembered for all of them. May you rest in peace Arfa Karim, and may Allah bless you and your family. You were a good friend and a great inspiration. Your spirit and memory will live on in our hearts for as long as we live. The youth lost one of its best today, but you have inspired so many that we will all try to not let you down.

Skin-Whitening Ads

Skin whitening advertising associates light skin with idealized beauty that all women can attain, irrespective of nationality, race, or class. While the ubiquitous appeal of such advertising is culturally producing and reproducing idealized gendered bodies and gendered identities from the global North to the global South, skin whitening remains uncontested in Pakistan. How are gender norms negotiated in skin whitening advertising? Are the imperialistic connotations of linking light skin with idealized beauty being challenged by the Pakistani women?

The history of skin whitening in postcolonial Pakistan can be traced to the cultural impacts of the conquests encountered in the Indian subcontinent. From the light-skinned Aryans who settled down in the North to the dark-skinned Dravidians in the South, the subcontinent exhibited many skin color variations. While the true pre-colonial origins of skin whitening remains disputed, it was the most pronounced during the nineteenth century British colonialism, where racial hierarchies, based on skin color differences, became a tool for colonial governance.

Anne McClintock in Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest (1995) and Anandi Ramamurthy in Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asia in British Advertising (2003) note that the nineteenth century soap advertising campaign reproduced skin color as a marker of class, gender, and race identity. During colonialism, soap advertising transformed ‘scientific racism’ into ‘commodity racism’ by representing soap as a signifier for ‘imperial glamour’ and ‘racial potency’. By 1889, the market extended into many areas of the world, including the Indian subcontinent.

Drawing on the racist iconography of the soap advertising campaign in which the soap washed away the ‘stigma’ of racial and class degeneration, today’s skin whitening cream advertisements can be said to represent ‘commodity racism’. By removing from the skin the ‘stigma’ of dark skin, whitening creams correlate light skin with beauty and socioeconomic progress. The discourse of such contemporary advertising incorporates both racism and ‘colorism’. The term ‘colorism’ conceptualized as a privileging of the lighter skinned over the darker-skinned within a community of color is said to happen over time when the predominantly colored communities internalize ‘white superiority,’ to create socioeconomic hierarchies. While today the soap advertisements cannot be shown, because of their blatant attempt to naturalize the ideology of ‘white superiority’, advertisers now employ semiotic manipulations to convey similar messages.

This association between light skin and idealized beauty and socioeconomic progress for women is best explained by the concept of ‘social capital’ as defined by Margaret Hunter. In If You’re Light You’re Alright: Light Skin Color as Social Capital for Women of Color (2002), Hunter uses the concept of ‘social capital’ to analyze the impact of skin color on the lives of African American and Mexican American women. She observes that most of the literature on skin color hierarchies points to the ideology of white prestige, but does not focus on its impact on women. Hunter defines ‘social capital’ as ‘a form of prestige related to things such as social status, reputation, and social networks. All of these forms of prestige can be converted into economic or educational capital.’ She argues that light skin is associated with beauty which in turn acts as a ‘social capital’ for women of color.

While Hunter acknowledges that physical appearance influences the status of both men and women, she argues that it is a far more important characteristic for women. She contends that even though people of color may not express a verbal desire for light skin, studies reflect that there is a strong preference for lighter skinned women by men from the same racial or ethnic group. Her study concludes that light skin as a form of ‘social capital’ influences the life chances for women of color, because when light skin with its history of colonialism and slavery, gets associated with idealized beauty, then positive attributes are linked to this beauty and as a result, light skinned women of color perform better in the areas of personal income, education, and spousal status. Hunter’s study can be critiqued for its essentialism, as she herself states that beauty can be perceived differently by different people and dark skinned women can compensate for their appearance by striving for high-status achievements such as education. Nonetheless, Hunter offers an effective analytical tool in the reading of skin whitening advertisements in which the product acts as a signifier for ‘social capital’ for women of color.

When the European attempted to enforce commodity fetishism on Africa, there were resistances by the Africans who either rejected the commodity or altered it for their needs. However, today’s global western consumer culture guises accepting ‘commodity racism’ as a self-empowering tool. As the Foucauldian analysis of the power of disciplinary practices suggest, the diffuse nature of power makes it difficult to resist, and instead disciplinary practices get internalized in the form of self-surveillance. In case of advertising, its magical transformation rhetoric and ubiquitous nature disguises social coercion even more, making it difficult to resist. Nonetheless, multinational corporations are expanding their consumer base by incorporating local cultural themes to create an affinity between the products and their dark-skinned female consumers. When skin whitening advertisements targeting young women are aired in postcolonial settings, with a predominantly dark-skinned population, local and international media watch dogs need to read the advertisements for their gender and racist connotations. Further research of the prevalence of skin whitening advertising is urgently needed to counter the continuing attempts of damaging the identity formation of young Pakistani women.

This column will change your life

This column will change your life: the importance of temporal landmarks

Build more temporal landmarks into your life, and you'll experience time differently than if your days and years are one undifferentiated mush

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Illustration: Paul Thurlby for the Guardian

In July 1962 – in what could be seen, with hindsight, as a pre-emptive up-yours to the entire career of David Blaine – a French explorer named Michel Siffre buried himself under a glacier for two months. More than 100m below ground, several degrees below freezing and confined to a tent in a cave, the 23-year-old's sense of time soon unravelled. Deprived of the markers with which the rest of us keep track – clocks, sunrise and sunset, weekdays and weekends, birthdays, seasons, term times, holidays – he grew disoriented. Hours seemed to pass in seconds, then minutes would stretch into hours; sometimes, most confusingly, both would seem to happen at once. A few weeks in, he was shocked to receive a message from the surface, summoning him back to civilisation a month early. Except it wasn't a month early. It was September: two months had passed in what felt like 34 days.

You couldn't ask for a more vivid reminder of how badly we need "temporal landmarks" to give life structure, and keep us sane. And those landmarks exert subtle influences on us. One new study, in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that people were more likely to meet a six-month deadline if given it in June, with an endpoint in December, than in July and ending in January. The new year serves as a divider: we define the stretch of time before it as similar to the present, and deadlines occurring within it as more urgent; the other side of new year, by contrast, seems like a far-off land. Then again, this is social psychology, so of course there are studies suggesting the precise opposite: that you should schedule major deadlines for just after milestones such as holidays or birthdays. The theory goes that this will increase the sense of contrast between your present self (who hasn't yet met the goal) and your future self (who has), thereby focusing the mind and providing a motivational boost.

Which method works for you may depend on whether you find big challenges energising or paralysing. But in any case, both findings point to a more general truth: temporal landmarks really matter. Build more of them into your life – or pay more attention to existing ones – and you'll experience time differently than if your days and years are one undifferentiated mush. Besides, for anyone over about 30, there's another reason to care: temporal landmarks could help assuage that terrible feeling of time speeding up as you age. In what researchers call the "calendar effect", we use milestones to form and retain memories – so university students, say, have much better recall of events near the start or end of term, even when you allow for the emotional highs and lows of freshers' week or graduation. The more landmarks, the less risk of suddenly realising you've no idea where last year went.

All of which is an excellent argument for making sure you celebrate birthdays; for holding a proper leaving do next time you leave a job or a city, instead of slinking off; for celebrating Christmas even if you're an atheist; maybe even for grand weddings over modest ones. Sadly, you needn't bury yourself beneath a glacier to have that sense of a month having simply vanished: a life without landmarks may suffice.

After a traumatic birth, I don’t want sex

 love my partner and we want another baby, but since the arrival of our baby daughter, we have only had sex three times

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My partner and I have been together for six years and have a 14-month-old daughter. When I was pregnant, I bled after we had sex so we stopped. I then had a bad birth and tore badly and had to be rushed to surgery. After that, I didn’t feel comfortable with sex for six months, until I had been checked by my gynaecologist. Since then, we have only had sex three times, and I’m really worried as I just don’t want to. I love him so much, and we both want another baby.

What an enormous amount of pressure you’re putting yourself under. There are very good reasons why you don’t feel very sexual right now and they are mostly described by you above. But in addition, there are natural changes in your hormones at the moment that lower your desire and arousal.

Be patient, and ask your partner to be patient. Your sexual desire will return naturally when the time is right. At this point, nature is making sure you take it easy until your body has recovered from the last birth.

Find some relaxation methods that appeal to you, such as light yoga, meditation or massage, and learn to reduce your anxiety. When you are ready, start doing some exercise and organise some childcare so that you can spend private time with your partner.

 

Right now, though, stop worrying – things will eventually return to the way they were.

• Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.

Women With Big Butts Are Smarter And Resistant To Chronic Illnesses

(Photo : flickr) Study found that people who carry their body fat in their thighs and backsides are not just carrying extra weight, but also some extra protection against diabetes, heart disease and other conditions associated with obesity.

Scientist from the University of Oxford and Churchill Hospital in the United Kingdom have discovered that women with larger than average butts are not only increasingly intelligent, but also resistant to chronic illnesses, Elite Daily reported.

he results found that people who carry their body fat in their thighs and backsides aren't just carrying extra weight, but also some extra protection against diabetes, heart disease and other conditions associated with obesity.

"It is the protective role of lower body, that is [thigh and backside] fat, that is striking," the researchers said in a statement. "The protective properties of the lower body fat depot have been confirmed in many studies conducted in subjects with a wide range of age, BMI and co-morbidities."

According to ABC News, the results found women with bigger backsides tend to have lower levels of cholesterol and are more likely to produce hormones to metabolize sugar. Having a big butt requires an excess of Omega 3 fats, which have been proven to catalyze brain development, Elite Daily reported.  

Researchers also found the children born to women with wider hips are intellectually superior to the children of slimmer, less curvy mothers.

Researchers analyzed and compared female belly fat with the legs, hips and buttocks, finding that the fat from the lower body of women prevents the development of diabetes, thanks to the quantity and type containing hormones, Eyeonthenut reported.

"If you're going to have fat, you're definitely better off if you've got some fat in the lower body," Dr. Michael Jensen, director of endocrine research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. told ABC News. "If you look at people who have primarily the pear shape, they're healthy in all the ways that this fat behaves. It's not just less heart attacks or less diabetes, it's all these ways we think about fat as an important organ for our health."

The fat located in the thigh and backside produce hormones that help to better metabolize sugars and other lipids, abdominal fat secretes hormones with the opposite effect.

According to ABC News, experts said it's unclear if the fat in the thighs and backside are better for you than simply being thin.

"If you're a healthy thin weight, you're going to be every bit as healthy as someone who has weight, but has all the weight in the lower body," Jensen said.

Should I Worry About the Way My Son Walks?

My 15-month-old son walks with his feet turned in. My pediatrician assured me that it’s normal and that he’ll outgrow it. But I’m still worried. Won’t walking this way hurt him? Will he be able to play sports? Isn’t there something that doctors can do to straighten out his stride?
- Esther

Many toddlers walk with their feet turned in, a tendency sometimes referred to as "walking pigeon-toed." The medical name for it is in-toeing, and it usually corrects itself without any medical treatment. In most cases children go on to walk, run, and play sports without any problems.

In the past, special shoes and braces were used to treat in-toeing. But doctors found that these devices didn't make in-toeing disappear any faster, so they're not typically used anymore.

What causes in-toeing? As babies are growing in the womb, the tibia bones (the large bones between the knees and ankles) rotate inward to accommodate the baby's fit within the uterus. Sometimes the femur bones (the bones between the hips and knees) also turn inward. So when children are learning to walk, their feet often turn in.

In-toeing usually disappears as kids develop and improve walking skills, usually around 4 to 6 years old.

Since in-toeing usually disappears gradually, it can be difficult for parents to notice any improvement from day to day. Doctors often suggest that parents who are concerned about in-toeing take a video of the child walking (from the front and the back) and take another video 1 year later. By watching and comparing the videos it's easier to determine whether the in-toeing has improved. If it has not, talk with your doctor.

In some cases in-toeing is a sign of an injury or illness, and the child needs evaluation and possible treatment. Call the doctor if your child:

• is in-toeing and limping
• seems to have pain in the feet or legs
• is not learning to walk or talk as expected
• has in-toeing that is getting worse
• has one foot that turns in much more than the other
• is 3 years old and the in-toeing has not started to improve

Growth and Your Newborn-Should Be Concerned.

In their first year, newborns grow a big way, with most tripling their birth weight and increasing their length by about 50%.

From your baby's first day, health care providers will keep track of weight, length, and head size. Growth is a good indicator of general health, and babies who are progressing well are generally healthy, while poor growth can be a sign of a problem.

What Newborns Weigh

Just like adults, newborns come in a range of healthy sizes. Most full-term babies (born between 37 and 40 weeks) weigh somewhere between 5 pounds 8 ounces (2,500 grams) and 8 pounds, 13 ounces (4,000 grams).

A newborn who is lighter or heavier than the average range is probably perfectly fine but might receive extra attention from the doctors and nurses after delivery just to make sure there are no problems.

A number of things can affect a baby's size at birth. The length of the pregnancy is important. Babies born at their due date or later tend to be larger than those born earlier. Babies born prematurely are often smaller than full-term babies.

Other factors include:

• Size of parents. Tall parents may have larger-than-average newborns; short parents may have smaller-than-average newborns.
• Multiple births. If you're having twins, triplets, or more, you can count on your babies being relatively small. Multiples not only have to share their growing space in the uterus, they also are often born early, which leads to small size at birth.
• Birth order. First babies are sometimes smaller than brothers or sisters born later.
• Gender. Girls tend to be smaller, boys larger, but the differences are slight at birth.
• Mother's health during pregnancy. Factors that can lead to a lower birth weight include a mother's high blood pressure, heart problems, or use of cigarettes, alcohol, or illegal drugs during the pregnancy. If the mother has diabetes, the baby may have a higher birth weight. All conditions that can affect a baby's weight should be closely monitored by the mother's doctor. In addition, women should not smoke, drink alcohol, or use illegal drugs during pregnancy.
• Nutrition during pregnancy. Proper nutrition is essential for a baby's growth in the uterus and beyond. A poor diet during pregnancy can affect how much a newborn weighs and how the infant grows.
• Baby's health. Medical problems, including some birth defects and certain infections acquired during the pregnancy, can affect a child's birth weight and later growth.

• Growth and Premature Babies

  Premature babies generally are smaller and lighter than other newborns. A preemie's weight will be largely determined by how early he or she was born. The time the infant has missed being in the womb was growing time, so the baby has to do that growing in the outside world.
  Many pre-term babies are classified as having "low birth weight" or "very low birth weight." In medical terms, "low birth weight" means a baby weighs less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces (2,500 grams) at birth. That's the case for about 1 in every 12 babies in the United States, so it's quite common. "Very low birth weight" means a baby weighs less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces (1,500 grams). Most babies with low or very low birth weight were born prematurely.
  Premature babies are given special medical attention immediately after birth, and a pediatric specialist called a neonatologist may be involved in their care. Many premature babies spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) while they receive medical care, including feeding and observation of growth.

  Is Bigger Better?

  In the old days, a "strapping" baby with chubby cheeks and dimpled thighs was many people's picture of a healthy newborn. But a baby born much larger than average may have special medical problems that need attention.
  Some exceptionally large babies, especially those born to mothers with diabetes, including gestational diabetes, may have problems for a few days keeping blood sugar levels up and may require extra feedings, or even intravenous glucose, to prevent those levels from falling too low.

  How Newborns Grow

  Babies are born with some extra fluid, so it is perfectly normal for a newborn to drop a few ounces when that fluid is lost in the first few days of life. A healthy newborn is expected to lose 7% to 10% of the birth weight but should regain that weight by about 2 weeks after birth.
  During their first month, most newborns continue to gain weight at a rate of about one ounce (30 g) per day. They generally grow in height about 1 to 1.5 inches (2.54 to 3.81 centimeters) during the first month. Many newborns go through a period of rapid growth when they are 7 to 10 days old and again at 3 and 6 weeks.

• Should I Be Concerned?

  Newborns are so small, and it can be hard to know if your baby is gaining weight the way he or she should. You may worry that your baby has lost too much weight in the first few days or isn't taking enough breast milk or formula. Most likely, everything is fine. But if you are concerned at all, check with your doctor.

  What's Next?

  Being small or large at birth doesn't necessarily mean a baby will be small or large later in childhood or as an adult. Plenty of towering teenagers began life as small babies, and the biggest baby on the block can grow up to be a petite adult.
  By the time they're adults, kids tend to resemble their parents in size. Genetics, as well as good nutrition and your attention, will play a large part in determining how your baby grows in the years to come.
  Whether your baby starts out large, small, or in between, in the next few months you can expect your infant to keep growing fast.

Growth and Your 8- to 12-Month-Old----About the Chubby Baby?

Your baby is changing and growing in many ways, and is crawling, cruising along the furniture, or maybe even walking by 12 months!

Along with all this activity, babies are also learning to feed themselves.

How Babies This Age Grow

By the time of their first birthday cake, most babies have almost tripled their birth weight and grown about 10 inches (25 centimeters). However, physical growth slows down during the second half of the first year, and you may notice your baby's appetite slowing down, too.

Your child's doctor will continue to monitor growth during routine visits, usually scheduled at 9 months and 1 year of age.

Should I Be Concerned?

Parents' concerns about growth often focus on eating habits. Is your skinny baby a picky eater? Do you worry that your baby isn't getting enough to eat? Chances are that everything is fine. Most babies eat enough to satisfy their hunger, which in most cases is enough to supply them with the energy they need.

Your baby's weight, length, and head circumference have been measured since birth and plotted on a growth chart by your doctor. This is where you should start looking if you have questions about how your baby measures up.

When you review the growth chart with the doctor, make sure to compare your baby's growth with his or her own growth pattern, not with the growth of other babies. As long as your baby's growth is steady, there is probably no reason to worry.

If you do notice slowed growth or a drop in weight, consider these questions:

• Has your baby been ill? A couple of days of not eating, especially if combined with vomiting or diarrhea, can lead to weight loss that will be regained when your little one feels better.
• Is your baby on the move? Crawling, cruising, and walking all burn lots of calories, so weight gain might not be as great with this new mobility.
• Is your baby just more interested in playing peek-a-boo or dropping the spoon on the floor than eating? The world is a fascinating place and your baby is learning new things every day. Keep distractions at a minimum during mealtime and pay attention to cues that he or she has eaten enough.
• Are you introducing the right kinds of foods? As your baby gets better at eating, you can begin to pay more attention to the texture and variety of foods you serve. If your child is not so interested in baby foods anymore, how about introducing soft table foods and finger foods that are safe and fun?

Though growth rate does slow down between 8 and 12 months, your child should continue to follow his or her own growth curve. Talk with your doctor if you have growth-related concerns.

What About the Chubby Baby?

Plump may be the old-fashioned "ideal" of a baby, but a baby who is gaining weight rapidly is a cause for concern. Overweight babies are more likely to be overweight later in life, so consider whether a pattern of overeating and inactivity has begun.

Never withhold feedings from infants, but pay attention to your baby's cues that he or she is full.

Also:

• Make sure your baby's calories are coming from nutritious sources — like fruits, vegetables, and fortified cereals — rather than sweets and junk food.
• Make sure your baby isn't drinking high-calorie soft drinks or too much juice.
• Play with your baby to encourage physical activity, making sure your little one has a safe space to move around in.
• Limit the amount of time spent in car seats, strollers, and playpens.

As a parent, one of the best things you can do for your baby is to eat well and be physically active yourself. Your baby has a better chance of growing up fit if good health habits are part of the family's way of life. Not only will you be a good role model, but you'll have the energy to really enjoy life with your child (and the stamina to chase after your little one).

If you're concerned that your infant is overweight, ask your doctor for advice.

What's Next?

Isn't it hard to believe that a year has passed? In 12 short months, your baby has grown from a tiny newborn you could cradle in one arm to a toddler on the move. Between 12 and 24 months, your child will only grow about 4 inches (10 centimeters). Though physical growth has slowed, expect big changes in the year to come.