Three months old and already 17 pounds, Steven Nelson was diagnosed as consuming too many fats. "I was 22 at the time and blindly did what I was told," says his mother, Melony Churchman of Alvarado, Texas. "The doctor removed Steven from his all-formula diet and put him on a low-fat diet. When I introduced solid foods to him a month later, my doctor advised me to water down his cereal and feed him smaller portions. By 9 months, Steven could not sit alone, crawl, speak or do anything that most 9-month-olds do."

Steven's doctor equated the nutritional needs of a growing child to those of an adult. In the same way, caring parents daily place their infants and toddlers on the same high-fiber, low-fat diets that keep adult hearts healthy and bodies trim. Unfortunately this non-scientific trend has put American infants and toddlers at risk. A child's dietary needs are different than those of adults.

Babies need foods with high fat content. Thirty to 55 percent of an infant's and more than 30 percent of a toddler's calories should be from fat (preferably polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats in food), according to The Pediatric Manual of Clinical Dietetics. Fat in a child's diet performs many essential functions: It keeps a child's body temperature consistent; helps digest vitamins A, D, E and K; helps develop and cushion internal organs; is needed for brain development and assists in general growth and development.

Fortunately, in the case of Steven, a pediatric intern told Churchman that his motor and speech skills were underdeveloped because Steven's brain was not getting the fat it needed. He was put in physical therapy and on a high-fat diet. Today, 13 years later, he is an honor student and a point guard on his basketball team.

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