In 2017, the image of a little girl Chahat Kumar (Punjab, India) with an oversized chubby body was widely spread throughout the world newspapers, attracting the attention of many people. At that time Chahat was only 8 months old but already weighed 17 kg – equivalent to a 4-5 year old child. With a large body, full of fat, Chahat is called by many people by the nickname “child sumo”. Attracting attention online, she also made many people worry that her health would be affected with excess weight.
It is known that at birth, Chahat was still a completely normal child. But at the age of 4 months, the baby’s weight suddenly increased uncontrollably, making the family extremely worried. At 8 months old, Chahat’s weight reached 17kg – equivalent to a child aged 4-5. The excess weight gain comes from the baby being hungry and demanding to eat continuously during the day. Chahat’s mother, Reena, 21, said the baby’s daily intake of food is four times more than that of a normal child. “She doesn’t eat like a normal child. It keeps eating and not being full. If we give nothing, the baby starts to cry. Many times she asked to go out, but because it was too heavy, my wife and I only took her to places close to home,” Reena said.
The fact that girls have abnormal weight gain leading to obesity greatly affects their family’s daily life. Only less than 1 year old, but Chahat was so heavy that her mother could not carry her and only her father sometimes took care of it. Chahat is only allowed to play around the house because it is too heavy to carry the baby anywhere. Besides, obesity also caused Chahat many breathing and sleep problems. When the parents took the baby to the hospital, the doctors were also confused with Chahat’s condition. The baby also has unusually hard skin, so it is very difficult to get blood for testing.
“Since the day I became a doctor, I have never seen a case like Chahat’s. Due to the thick layer of fat inside and the unusually hard skin making blood tests very difficult, we tried many times but the results were not very positive,” said Chahat’s doctor, Vasudev Sharma. Some time after becoming famous, many journalists visited their homes in Punjab, India to update Chahat’s status. After a few years, the fat girl from before has grown a lot, but her weight problem does not seem to have improved.
Currently, the girl is more than 2 years old, her weight has increased to more than 50kg. Her body was so heavy that Chahad couldn’t walk on her own, and both parents had to hold her when they wanted to take her somewhere. Currently, the girl is more than 2 years old, her weight has increased to more than 50kg. Her body was so heavy that Chahad couldn’t walk on her own, and both parents had to hold her when they wanted to take her somewhere. Before that, after a period of trying to get help and raise funds from the community, they had money to see their children at larger hospitals. Doctors said that the cause of her obesity was a deficiency of the hormone Leptin (also known as the hormone that consumes energy) which prevents the baby’s body from releasing energy, causing excess weight. In particular, there are only about 50 cases in the world and Chahat is one of the unlucky people to have this disease.
