A Colombian charity has intervened to help the family of Juanita Valentina Hernandez - a 10-month-old baby who rapidly gained nearly 40 pounds.
The baby was born a healthy 6-lbs., but has ballooned to 44-lbs. in less than a year. Now, doctors are scrambling to figure out why.
Juanita's mother, Sandra Franco of Libano, is perplexed as to why her daughter is so overweight.
"When she was 15 days old she was already looking chubby, because she was born very thin," she told the Daily Mail.
"Since then she's been gaining weight. Now she is 10 months old and I have realised she is morbidly obese."
The average baby Juanita's age should weigh 19 lbs., according to Tam Fry of the Child Growth Foundation.
"Weight can vary with ethnicity, but regardless of that, this child is vastly, vastly overweight," Fry said. "It is tragic."
Franco said she felt helpless as she watched her daughter piling on the pounds.
"Until now I haven't been able to treat her because I am unemployed and didn't have the money," she explained.
Now, Juanita has a chance at a healthy life.
The Gorditos de Corazón charity, or Chubby Hearts, brought Juanita to Bogotá to have her examined by specialists. The charity helped two other babies Juanita's size in the past year.
"Thousands of children in Colombia - and millions around the world - suffer with obesity," the charity's founder, Salvador Palacio Gonzalez, said of the obesity epidemic.
"From Colombia we have formed an international alliance to help people who are overweight."
Babies like Juanita are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes if they do not achieve a healthy weight in two or three years, and can suffer other health problems as they get older.
"We are already seeing children aged four with this condition, which can lead to heart disease in the teenage years," Fry explained.
"Overweight children and teenagers are more likely to become overweight or obese adults. It is an extremely difficult cycle to break."
Franco urged parents of overweight children not to hesitate in seeking help for their babies.
"To all mothers that have babies like this, please take care of our children if we don't want them to get sick," she pleaded.
"Please don't let them die from one of these diseases."
