NHS weight management service offered to under fours

Clinical director of paediatrics Dr Chris Knight said: "[Eight months] is unusual, but at that kind of age we can really make progress about how they are feeding those children at such an early stage.

Peter Fleming, professor of infant health and developmental physiology at the University of Bristol, added: "It's not unheard of for babies as young as six months to be severely obese because their parents often start giving them solids too soon."

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said while they would not usually recommend a calorie-deficit for children, in some cases "it may be necessary to discuss a change in diet, particularly if it has poor nutritional value".

The Somerset Pre-school Lifestyle Activity Skills for Self-Help (SPLASH) is a weight management service where doctors, dietitians and psychologists monitor food behaviours and seek to build parental confidence.

"Quite often our parents have had stigmatising experiences where they've felt blamed or shamed about their child's weight, and this can be incredibly challenging and quite unpleasant," Dr Rowley said.

Lainee's mother Claire said working with Splash had had a dramatic effect on her daughter's appearance and enabled to her increase her daily activity levels too.