CHICAGO (AP)- There's new evidence that the link between sleep
and obesity may affect even very young children.

A new Harvard study says babies and toddlers who sleep fewer
than 12 hours daily are at greater risk for being overweight in
preschool.

It's even worse if the little ones watch TV. The kids that slept the least and watched the most television had the greatest chance of becoming obese.

The researchers found that among the long sleepers, 7 percent were obese at age 3. The short sleepers fared worse, with 12 percent of them became obese 3-year-olds. When TV is added to the picture, 17 percent of those who slept less than 12 hours a day and watched two or more hours of television a day were obese by the time they were 3.

The findings appear in April's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

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