Believe it or not, not the biggest baby ever born.
A mother in Jakarta, Indonesia, delivered a 19.2-pound, 2-foot-long child on Monday via Caesarean section. In retrospect, giving birth to a 9 pound baby now seems trivial. The 19.2 lb baby is now recorded as the largest baby born in Indonesia and just a few pounds short of the world record holder, a 23 lb. baby born in 1879.
The baby's arrival was reported on TODAY Thursday. Even though the mother did not have to deliver the baby naturally, the surgery was still a risk with such a large baby. The sheer size of this "infant" dwarfs the other babies in the hospital nursery.
“This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him out of his mum’s womb,” Dr. Binsar Sitanggang told Agence France-Presse. “His legs were so big.”
Diabetes likely caused the child to receive too much glucose in the womb, according to doctors. This may have attributed to the baby's massive size. The doctors do report that the baby is in good health.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Canadian Anna Bates gave birth to a baby boy who weighed 23 pounds, 12 ounces and was 30 inches long. He was born way back in 1879, however, and died just 11 hours later.
The biggest baby a healthy mom delivered was another boy, who truly tipped the scales at 22 pounds, 8 ounces. His mom was Carmelina Fedele from Italy, and that was in 1955.
What’s a “typical” birth weight? Well, it averages out to about 7-1/2 pounds for an American baby.
If you are having trouble determining how big a 19 pound baby is, he is about the size of a one year old toddler. It's amazing that he is not walking yet.
Dr. Sitanggang commented on the very vocal newborn, "“This baby boy is extraordinary; the way he’s crying is not like a usual baby. It’s really loud.”
The mother of this 19 lb. baby boy has three other children at home. Hopefully she has saved their toddler clothes because those cute little baby clothes are not going to fit this big guy!
