The heaviest baby at birth, according to the Guinness book of world records, weighed 23.12lb (10.8kg) and died 11 hours after birth. The baby was born to Anna Bates who lived in Canada in 1879. In recent years a woman in Brazil gave birth to a child, dubbed ‘giant baby’ by the media, which weighed 17lb (8kg). The child, Ademilton dos Santos, weighed the amount a baby of six-months would weigh. The child’s mother suffered from diabetes, and the unusual weight of the newborn is attributed to this. Because of this he was give glucose to maintain a safe blood sugar level and oxygen to help with breathing problems.
The average weight of a newborn baby is 6 to 9lb (2700 to 4000g). This is well below half the weight of the heaviest baby on record. Doctors check the size and weight of a growing baby by measuring the abdomen of the woman who is pregnant. They measure from the upper edge of the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. This length is called the fundal height. It is more concerning to doctors if the baby has a fundal height that is too small rather than too big. This could be an indication that the baby is not growing properly. Doctors use this information to determine the size of a baby related to the gestational age of the baby. What this means is that the measurements of the abdomen should be equal, within 2 to 3 centimetres, to the number of weeks the woman has been pregnant. If the measurement is greater or lesser than the number of weeks the baby has been growing then the baby would be deemed to be large for gestational age (LGA) or small for gestational age (SGA) respectively.
The average weight of a newborn baby is 6 to 9lb (2700 to 4000g). This is well below half the weight of the heaviest baby on record. Doctors check the size and weight of a growing baby by measuring the abdomen of the woman who is pregnant. They measure from the upper edge of the pubic bone to the top of the uterus. This length is called the fundal height. It is more concerning to doctors if the baby has a fundal height that is too small rather than too big. This could be an indication that the baby is not growing properly. Doctors use this information to determine the size of a baby related to the gestational age of the baby. What this means is that the measurements of the abdomen should be equal, within 2 to 3 centimetres, to the number of weeks the woman has been pregnant. If the measurement is greater or lesser than the number of weeks the baby has been growing then the baby would be deemed to be large for gestational age (LGA) or small for gestational age (SGA) respectively.
