Every now and again we hear news stories such as the recent one about a baby boy being born in the Russian town of Khabarovsk – the boy born last week to a 33 year old woman weighed 7.2 kg, which classifies him as a ‘Giant Baby’.
The average weight of a baby at birth is about 7 to 7.5 pounds or about 3 to 3.5 kgs; Babies above this average and weighing up to 5 kilos at birth are considered big and those that are below six pounds are considered low birth weight.
The term macrosomia is used to describe babies who are overweight at birth. Here are some of the reasons that are generally attributed for LGA (large for gestational age) babies:
- There could be an underlying medical problem that is responsible for the baby’s excessive weight – this could be conditions such as gestational diabetes and so on.
- Another reason for very large babies could be genetics; the size of the mother and the father themselves. If the parents carry a lot of excess weight, they are more likely to have overweight babies.
- Post term deliveries.
- Other reasons such as history of macrosomia, multiparity, racial trends also impact LGA.
