I eye my 2-year-old's belly as she happily wolfs down ice cream - and wants more. And I hesitate before acquiescing. Her belly is Buddha-round, her bellybutton sticking out obstinately. The barrage of coverage on overweight and obese toddlers is making me hyper-aware of my daughter's physique.

And I'm not the only mom who's more conscious of the pounds little ones are sporting. Jessica Yager, a mother of two in Drexel, Mo., admits that at her son and daughter's yearly checkups, she pays close attention to where her children fall within the weight averages.

Who can blame us? After all, we're bombarded with the message that obesity is one of the most serious threats facing our health. (And we've seen the talk shows where a toddler weighs more than some adults.) But the issue is also confusing: Where is the line between a little bit of baby fat – harmless rolls and plump dimples – and just plain old fat?

The media hasn't just been crying wolf about young people and a growing propensity for being overweight or obese. National data on body mass index (BMI) percentile collected between 2003 and 2004 indicate that 12.3 percent of U.S. children ages 2 to 5 are overweight, and 13.9 percent are obese, says Dr. Kathryn Henderson, associate research scientist and director of School and Community Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

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