I gave birth to three supersized babies, one weighed more than a 10-person Christmas turkey
A mum has revealed she gave birth to three supersized babies, born at a combined weight of 31lbs 7oz, with her first daughter weighing more than a 10-person Christmas turkey.
Sarah Richards, 34, a nursery practitioner, from Manchester, welcomed her first child, Freddie, on May 6 2008, weighing in at 9lbs 8oz (4.3kg). Eight years later, on January 21 2016, Sarah gave birth to her second baby, Sofia, who was born at an incredible 11lbs 9oz (5.2kg). Finally, on the 26th April 2021, Lacey-Jane made her entrance, weighing just a little less than her big sister at 10lbs 6oz (4.7kg).
The average birth weight for babies in the UK is around 7lb 8oz (3.4 kg) for boys 7lb 4oz (3.3 kg) for girls.
Thanks to their larger than average sizes, all three babies skipped tiny newborn babygrows and instead went straight into clothes designed for children aged between three to six months. With Freddie, hospital staff commented that the infant looked more like a three month old. "With Sofia, I bought the first size nappies and she had to go straight to bigger sizes," Sarah explains. "And because Freddie was big we just bought 0-3 size nappies in preparation."
Throughout all three of her pregnancies, Sarah was often told that she looked much further ahead in her pregnancy, with many also questioning whether she was having twins. "I'm a twin myself and Sofia's birthweight was more than me and my twin sister put together! We refer to Sofia as our little sumo wrestler.
"With Freddie I had a really straightforward pregnancy, but he ended up being born early via an emergency C-section. You could tell he was going to be on the bigger side but not nearly 10lbs! Again, with Sofia I had no complications but they could tell she was big quite early on. I was tested for diabetes but it came back negative so we planned a C-section. Midwives estimated her weight to be the same as Freddie so when she came out at 11lbs 9oz it was quite a shock."
During her pregnancy with Lacey-Jane, Sarah says while she didn't suffer from morning sickness she did have extra fluid. "She was big from the start as well," she explains. "At this point, I had a gestational diabetes diagnosis so they think they may have missed it with Sofia. Lacey-Jane was born six weeks early she was getting too big - in three days they think she grew around 1lbs and a half."
Sarah believes her children's size at birth can be partly attributed to their father's larger than average birth weight. "Their dad was over 9lbs when he was born," she explains. "We've shown them all pictures of when they were born," Sarah says. "No one could believe how big they were, but all three of them now slim, so when people hear how much they weighed at birth they're gobsmacked at how they look now."
Sarah's children aren't the only ones to have recorded larger than usual birth weights recently. Last year Ruby Eden, from Warrington, Cheshire shared how midwives gasped when she gave birth to a baby boy weighing almost 12lbs and the "size of a toddler".
Ruby was originally told by doctors her newborn was likely to weigh around 9lbs, but he actually arrived weighing a hefty 11lbs 13oz with a head "as big as a melon".
And back in October mum Nicole Taylor was left "stunned" after giving birth to a baby boy that weighed a whopping 11lbs 7oz. "I'm glad I had a C-section", Nicole, who is just 5'2", explained before adding that the size of her second son George even shocked surgeons.
Large for gestational age babies: the facts
According to the NHS, a Large for gestational age baby (LGA) is a baby that is measuring on or above the 90th centile on the GROW chart within a mother's antenatal records. This means the baby exceeds the expected weight for its gestational age (weeks pregnant). Approximately 5-8 out of 100 (5-8%) of all babies born are identified as LGA.
The NHS says whether a baby is large for you, will often depend upon your own individual characteristics, but you may have a larger than average baby if you:
Have had a previous large baby
Have a body mass index over 35 in pregnancy
Have pre-existing diabetes or have develop diabetes in pregnancy also known as gestational diabetes.
Most babies that are LGA pose minimal risk and are delivered normally with no complications, however there are some risks to be aware of including:
An increased chance of having a caesarean section or instrumental birth
A small risk of the baby’s shoulders struggling to come through the pelvis (shoulder dystocia)
An increased risk of you having a large blood loss after the birth (postpartum haemorrhage)
An increased risk of you having a bad tear of the perineum
Read more about parenting and birth:
Mum gives birth naturally to one of the UK's biggest babies weighing almost 13lbs (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)
Why we chose to be one and done as birth rate falls to lowest ever (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
‘It's easy to get sucked into competitive parenting, but no one wins the baby race’ (Women's Health, 7-min read)
