Baby fat: When to rejoice, when to worry By CHRISTINE ELLIOTT New parents learn quickly that everyone has something to say about a pudgy baby, with remarks ranging from harmless ("Look at those chubby cheeks") to hurtful ("Isn't he a little big for his age?"). "I got comments all the time from my so-called friends," says Lan Ma, recalling that her two children, as infants, had chipmunk cheeks and "rolls after rolls of flesh." Ma, of Edgewater, N.J., ignored any suggestion that Thomas, now 4, and Tyler, 2, were too big, even when both weighed in at 14 pounds — double their birth weights — at their 2-month checkups. "I was never worried about their weight when they were young, because they were both very, very healthy." Some other parents, however, can become anxious, given widespread reports that an increasing percentage of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight. Read on ... tag: childhood obesity, parenting