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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Is there any correlation between pregnancy size and baby size?

34 replies

udar · 25/02/2004 10:19

With only 5 wks to go know I'm being silly but was wondering if there seems to be any correlation between the size of your bump or weight gain during pregnancy and the size of the baby at birth.
Did you end up having similar sized babies to your mother/grandmother as I have heard baby size follows down the mothers side.

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tabitha · 25/02/2004 10:24

No correlation for me - with my two biggest babies (1st & 4th) I had the smallest bump. Think a lot of it had to do with position of baby. Can't remember how much weight I put on in previous pregnancies and didn't weigh myself this time apart from booking in visit.
Also, my mums 4 babies varied from 7lbs 1oz (me) to my eldest brother - over 10lbs, whereas all of mine have been pretty similar in weight (between 8lbs 7 1/2oz and 8lbs 13oz).

puddinggal · 25/02/2004 10:33

No correlation for me. I was as big as a house when I was pregnant - they thought my ds would be about 9lb + - so I was relieved when I was 8lb 3oz.

I was 8lb 4oz when I was born - so that is similar to my ds.

good luck with your new arrival btw. x x

StripyMouse · 25/02/2004 10:36

like tabitha, no correlation for me either. Second baby was well over a pound heavier and bump was much smaller second time round. Different shape too - all out front second time whereas the first was everywhere IYKWIM. Was convinced that I was carrying a boy as so different from first pregnancy (DD No.1) but was happily surprised to end up with another little (or not so little...) baby girl.
As a result, I just don?t agree that there is necessarily any rules about this, just possible hereditary traits in some cases - ie. you just can?t tell!!
My mw accurately predicted the final weight of my baby fairly early on when I stupidly made the passing comment that I hoped the baby was to be smaller this time as I was lighter and smaller. She just laughed and told me that there was no chance as it was clearly going to be fairly large (I think it was about 4 weeks to go when she told me this). Oh, how right she was...

ClearWater · 25/02/2004 10:41

Not with me either. When I was having ds1, hardly anyone noticed I was pregnant until 6 months. I took to rubbing my tummy absent-mindedly to draw attention to it, I was dying to tell anyone and everyone!
I did get bigger towards the end, but people were still shocked when I said I was almost due, they thought I was about 6 months pregnant!
And ds1 was a pretty painful 8lb 8oz!

With ds2 I was bigger, but you are supposedly with second and subsequent babies aren't you. And it was summer so we couldn't be bothered cooking in the hot kitchen and went out for tea a lot!

ClearWater · 25/02/2004 10:43

Meant to add, ds2 was then actually lighter than ds1 at 8lb 5oz, despite me piling on the pounds more!

katchat · 25/02/2004 12:09

Big correlation for me - I was enormous, people used to say "ooo not long now" from about 6 months and then when I said actually no I've got months yet, they'd say "oh are you sure its not twins". Sigh.

Anyway, basically I was very big and my baby was 9lb 14oz. Midwife had predicted an 8lb baby and lots of fluid a couple of weeks before birth. Am glad she wasn't right though as I would have been even more terrified!

I was 8lb 2oz when born so fairly good size.

katchat · 25/02/2004 12:10

Didn't say that well ... I mean I'm glad midwife didn't predict a 9lb 14oz baby as that would have terrified me!

oliveoil · 25/02/2004 12:13

I had a huge comedy bump - like I had stuffed a cushion up my jumper - but didn't look pregnant from behind. Dd was 9lb 10. Everytime I went for appointments I got 'are you sure you are 34 weeks' etc as I looked so big.

My mum had 3 big babies too - I was about 10lb I think.

But I am tall - 5'11" and dh is 6'4" so I think it was mainly length with dd.

Croak · 25/02/2004 12:45

I had a teeny bump until 40 weeks when I had a week of actually getting comments from people, which was a great novelty! Measured small for dates too, midwife seemed to think that I had growth retardation due to high BP and had growth scan at 37 weeks - showed babe was 50th percentile but midwife remained unconvinced! DS turned out to be 8lb 3oz so exactly 50 percentile and at her postnatal visits midwife made absolutely no mention of his size (for the first time since about 7 months preg) My mum was also told with me (even in labour) that she was having a small baby and I turned out to be 7lb15oz. My brother was 8lb3oz too so, so far, we seem to be fairly similar. Incidentally DH was exactly the same size as me too but think this is probably pretty irrelevant.

pupuce · 25/02/2004 13:15

I gained 40lbs with each pregnancy and babes were 7lbs 3oz and 7lbs 2 oz...
There is no link between how big you look and how big your baby will be.

These things are old wives tales !

Bozza · 25/02/2004 13:15

I was huge with DS - a really big spread out bump. The midwife said to me at a late check-up - "its a big one you've got in there" and DS was born 9lb 10 oz. I'm 5' 4" so he took some carrying. He wasn't that long but had a big head which I think added to the weight.

My Mum had big babies (I was 9lb 5) so I wasn't surprised. This time I thought I was smaller but now I'm not sure because bump seems to have grown hugely in the last few days (am 28 weeks).

Bozza · 25/02/2004 13:16

What about the heriditary thing then Pupuce?

Have to say I have gained 35lb so far so am expecting to beat your 40lb. So there!

Rhubarb · 25/02/2004 13:24

I gained around 1.5 stone during each of my pregnancies and was told that I had a very neat and tiny bump. My first was predicted to be a small baby and she was, coming out at 6lb 14oz. The last pregnancy was the same, I had a neat, compact bump and expected the same size of baby. Instead he came out at 8lb 13oz! No-one who had seen me pregnant could believe that my bump contained such a large baby (for me). So I don't think that it does follow.

Also, from my mother's end all her babies were small, I was the largest at nearly 8lb.

pupuce · 25/02/2004 13:24

From what I have seen (and this is not scientific) women whose husband were big babies are also likely to have big babies,.... not sure it's all maternal.....

pupuce · 25/02/2004 13:25

Bozza- but I am 8stone to start with.

twiglett · 25/02/2004 13:27

message withdrawn

suedonim · 25/02/2004 15:46

I put on about two stone with each pg. My first two babies were both 8lb 8oz. I had smaller bumps with pg's 3&4 (still put on 28lb, grrr!) and the babies got smaller, too, 7lb 5oz and 7lb. I was 9lb 8oz, and dh was 8lb 8oz. His aunty was 12lb even though Granny was only 4ft 11in!!!

A midwife friend says she thinks babies are getting bigger, Twiglett. She delivered four babies each weighing over 10lb, on the trot!

suedonim · 25/02/2004 15:48

Oh, yeah, forgot to say, I weighed 7.5st at the start of my pgs so 8lb+ babies were not a bad size for me!

CountessDracula · 25/02/2004 15:52

I think I gained about 2 or 2.5 stone with dd, my bump was huge at the end and she was 8lb 15oz.

I think I was 7lb and so was my brother.

Bozza · 25/02/2004 15:57

Poor Granny Suedonim ! Is that definite fact or myth!

Pupuce I was 8 st 12 lb at start of this pg and and now 11 st 6 at 28 weeks. I have worked out that the extra weight I am carrying now is more than the weight of my 3yo DS. I am going to mention this to my DH as to why I need a bit more help from him than I am currently getting.

Last pregnancy I didn't weigh myself towards the end but this time I intend to. Because then every pound I loose will feel like an achievement.

motherinferior · 25/02/2004 16:28

Size of bump doesn't correlate to weight either, I found. I looked enormous second time round, apparently. Total strangers commented. Emails were sent from across the country on how enormous so-and-so had said I was. I kept pointing out that I'd only put on a stone but NOBODY listened.

suedonim · 25/02/2004 17:07

Bozza, Granny herself said that aunty had been 12lb, so I guess it's true. Dh's dad was also pretty big, though not quite on that scale. Maybe that's why Granny was an old battleaxe. As dh would say, she must have had a like a bucket.

zebra · 25/02/2004 18:06

I'd almost put money on there being a "statistical" correlation, but plenty of exceptions to the rule as the stories here tell.
Where did I see?... something recently that showed the average birth weights -- it's only 7.5 lb (3.25-3.35 kg). I think it's been that for 20+ years. Smaller before that, maybe because women smoked but especially they were lecturered to not put on more than 15 lb themselves.

musica · 25/02/2004 18:30

I had two teeny bumps up till very end, then they grew a bit. Midwife said on both occasions 'This one's a tiddler'. Ds was 9lb12, dd was 10lb2. I was 8lb when born, and brother was 8lb6.

Bond33 · 25/02/2004 18:58

When I had my two boys I had a very small bump and went into hospital in normal size 12 jeans (I had been a 10 prior to pregnancy) and the first was 7lb 13oz and the second 7lb 6oz. With my girls I was totally different I looked like I had a space hopper up my jumper I was huge and the first girl only weighed 5lb and the second 6lb 10oz. So from my experience the size of you doesn't bear any relevance to the size of your baby. I forgot to mention with my second son they told me he would be around 3lbs and had prepared an incubator for him the, midwife was a little shocked when he came out so big.

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