Mumbai: A 28-year-old mother-to-be from Mumbai had an unexpectedly big bundle of joy when she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, weighing all of 5.360 kilograms, at the state-run Cama and Albless Hospital on September 28. The newborn’s birth weight corresponds to the average weight of a three-month-old in India. According to doctors, heavy babies are usually born to mothers with gestational diabetes, but in this case, the mother did not have this condition nor does she have thyroid issues.
An average Indian baby weighs somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5kg, so the delivery of big babies could be a little risky, with the possibility of post-partum haemorrhage, expansion of the Caesarean section (C-section) incision and damage to the blood vessels. “The newborn and the mother are under observation and are stable,” said a doctor.
Dr Rajshree Katke, gynaecologist and medical superintendent of the hospital, said the baby was delivered through C-section on September 28. “The baby was delivered on time, but the mother, Kalpana Pore, had to undergo a C-section because of high blood pressure. The baby girl has been admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) ward of the hospital for further observation,” she added. This is the third time in the last eight years, the hospital has recorded the birth of a ‘big’ baby to a non-diabetic mother at Cama hospital. In 2011, a woman delivered a baby boy weighing 4.5 kilograms and in 2010, a baby weighing 4.3 kilograms was delivered at the hospital.
Dr Duru Shah, a renowned gynaecologist said, alarm bells ring for doctors when a baby weighs more than four kilos. “These babies are potentially diabetics and have to be monitored closely and there are very high chances that the mother has high blood sugar and may be prone to infections,” she added. A study published in ‘BMC Public Health’, a peer-reviewed journal, says, “Children born large for gestational age are prone to neonatal complications and developing insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease later in life.”