No consistent link between nonparental childcare and obesity was seen in a longitudinal analysis involving ∼10,700 children.

Participants were followed from age 9 months until entering kindergarten. Investigators looked at the potential link between childcare attendance at 24 months and BMI scores at kindergarten entry, controlling for certain variables. They repeated the analysis by using individual fixed effect models and instrumental variable (IV) analysis. Among the results:

• Nearly half of the children were in nonparental childcare at 2 years.
• ~One-third were overweight/obese when they entered kindergarten.
• Children in nonparental childcare at 2 years had higher BMI scores at kindergarten entry than did those receiving parental care.
• However, fixed effects and IV models revealed no significant effect of childcare on BMI score.