IN an effort to combat childhood obesity Oxfordshire two years ago became the first county to introduce very young children and their parents to Henry.

Now Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young – HENRY – has become so successful the Government-funded programme is now being used across the UK.

Developed by Oxford-based author and parenting counsellor Candida Hunt and Leeds University consultant paediatrician Prof Mary Rudolf, the project taps into the lives of under fives and their families at children’s centres, moulding the youngsters for a better fat-free future.

Mrs Hunt said: “Quite a lot of work is already being done to support children of school age, but in recent years research has shown the problem starts very much earlier. If we wait until we have overweight 10-year-olds, we’ve missed an opportunity.

“So Prof Rudolf turned her attention to really little ones and with a baby you have to work with the whole family.

“There’s no point telling a child they have to eat five-a-day if it’s not happening all around them.”

Initial research showed neither parents nor the health professionals working with them thought current support was adequate.

Children’s centre staff and health visitors didn’t feel confident enough to broach the subject if they thought a child was gaining too many pounds, while mums and dads said they felt patronised by the people giving them advice.

Mrs Hunt said: “We run training for practitioners to give them more knowledge and skills to support families one-to-one in the course of their everyday work. It gives them the confidence to do something if the child is overweight.

“It’s not just about nutrition, but about lifestyle, how you feel, and how you were brought up yourself. It’s also about family eating habits and physical activity.

“You have to give equal attention to how parents can be engaged and supported — they don’t much appreciate people just coming in and telling them what to do.”

Delia Mann, the manager at North Abingdon Children’s Centre, where the team has embraced the ethos of HENRY, said: “We are living in an age where people put cola in their children’s bottles – I’ve seen that.”

Staff are leading by example and no longer serve juice or biscuits.

But the move did cause ructions among some of the 200 families who use the centre’s drop-in group and classes.

Mrs Mann added: “There’s no juice in the centre, just milk and water. We provide fresh fruit, which caused a bit of an uproar because most parents see drop-ins as being about coffee and cake.

“It’s not about being a Nazi about biscuits, but just about moderation, because children are having a lot more of that kind of stuff nowadays.

“But actually, children will try things when they’re in a group situation – they’re much better at adapting than their parents are. And I see more people bring fruit in with them now than when we first started the project six months ago, so it’s having an effect.”

HENRY has led to a whole new lifestyle for mother-of-two Penny O’Dell.

The 25-year-old took part in the eight-week course at Blackbird Leys Children’s Centre 18 months ago – and has never looked back.

Miss O’Dell learnt that although her children, Danniella, six, and Shane, four, were well fed, she was giving them too much of the wrong food types.

She said: “I always used to think I gave my children too little, but I look back now and I wasn’t at all.

“Although we ate reasonably well, I was giving them too much of the things they weren’t supposed to have a lot of, like fats and carbohydrates.

“I have become more creative and imaginative with food and it works. My children eat things like sausage casserole now.

“And I’ve bought smaller plates for them so I’m not tempted to pile on food, and I really look at portion sizes, giving them more vegetables and fruit.”

It’s not just meals that have improved for Danniella and Shane since the HENRY course, but their day-to-day living too.

Miss O’Dell, who lives with her boyfriend Chris Higgs, 23, in Little Bury, Greater Leys, said: “My children are more energetic. They come out of school at 3pm and I don’t see them until dinner time.

“Danniella used to spend all her time in her bedroom, but now she loves being outside. As a result, they both have more social interaction and confidence.

“We’ve changed our whole attitude. We take the dogs for long walks together, which we never used to do.

“My boyfriend used to take them, but we do it as a family now and we go swimming at least once a week.”