Eight-month-old baby boy weighs a whopping 44 pounds

Now, all parents like to treat their kids now and again, but this mother in Colombia has treated her son to extreme lengths.

Yeah, meet Santiago! He’s 8 months old and weighs a whopping 44 pounds (20 kilograms).

Santiago is now being helped by the Chubby Hearts Foundation and will be provided with treatments for a number of problems caused by his extreme weight.

Doctor Salvador Palacio says he’s been given too much food and constant milk bottles.

“He has a metabolic syndrome, in other words progressive weight gain, and he is also suffering from lung problems and anxiety. He is a compulsive eater.”

Folds of fat have been hindering his ability to roll over, crawl or conquer other important physical skills. This led Santiago’s mother Eunice to seek help.

“I am worried, first of all, because it’s difficult to carry him around. He looks very cute like this, but his health is not good. And so I think he should receive help, so that he’s able to get back to his normal weight.”

Doctors aim to put Santiago on a strict vegetable and fruit juice diet.

“We logically depend on the mother’s care. We have all the specialists, and our commitment is complete. We have to subject him to some physical activity therapy programmes. We logically have to place him on a diet and the most important thing is to improve his social surroundings because we are talking about a low income family.”

Doctors are hoping to get Santiago’s weight down to 17 pounds (8 kilograms) in six months to a year.

Difficult words: treat (to give food a person likes), now and again (from time to time), whopping (very large), compulsive (he cannot resist food), hinder (make difficult), conquer (manage to do something).