Baby size running in families (or not!)

[Melamine]

A disclaimer - I know that none of this is an exact science!

Just curious about people's experiences with the size of their first babies vs the average sizes of babies in their families. I'm tall (as are my parents), my OH is also tall (but his parents aren't), and after 3 growth scans, our baby is predicted to be 7.5lbs now at 37 weeks so would be a 10lb whopper if I end up going overdue, as is usual for a first timer. But all the women in my family have had babies on the smaller side - I was only 6lb11 (2 weeks early though), my brother similar and my OH was 7lb9 and came late, of my SILs on both sides and all my cousins, no one has had a baby larger than 8lb even overdue - I'd be the first in generations!

Basically, please reassure me that the scan is probably inaccurate and I am not having a giant baby. 😂😉

I hope it’s not because I’m 1 of 5 kids ... and was the smallest at 10lb2! My brother (#4) was 12lb11!

My vagina hurts just thinking about it 🙈

Myself and two sisters were all between 9 and 10 pounds, I was the heaviest at nearly 10lb.
One sisters child was 9lb 8 oz, a week and a half over due.
My other sister had two 8lb boys, the first over due and the second at 38 weeks.
My ds was 9lb 6oz when he came along at 38 weeks, thank god he didn't stay in for longer! And I'm expecting a second boy now and he is measuring big also so expecting another big baby . Their dad was born 2 months early and was only 4lb.

DH & his siblings were all 10lb+. I was 5lbs. I was induced 2 weeks ago for macrosomia (large baby). Mine was due to be 10.5-11lbs. Had 4 extra growth scans. DS was born at 8lbs12oz. I will not be listening to sonographers again!!

I was 6ibs. Not sure what my oh was. We both skinny People of average height... Well he is below average i guess as he's not much taller than me.

So i hope that no rogue gene for a massive baby comes my way. My sister who was shorter than me had to have a c-sec due to her baby inheriting her husband's melon shaped head. And I'm very very narrowly built as it is.

Then again my neice gave birth naturally to two enormous children naturally, so might be hope!

I was 3 Ib at almost term. My babies were both around 9 and a half pounds.

I have two siblings, we all ranged 7-8.5lbs, same for my sister's three kids and mil's 4. In terms of my height & build I'm the smaller side of average, as is my mum. My dad is small for a man. Both my sister and mil are significantly bigger in height and build than me. Husband is tall but slightly smaller than FIL, same height as my bil and slimmer build than both. I had a 9lb baby at term. We were all mystified. Baby was thought to be small because fundal measurement was, growth scan said 50th centile. Baby does have a small head (like DH) and short legs with long torso though. I think growth scans take estimates from femur length and head circumference so that had an impact.
In short, who knows how big your baby will be? My dad has a theory that because I have really low blood pressure the blood flow across the placenta was good. I think my child is just massive.

My mum had small babies as did I, I can confirm once my kids procreate if it's the case (my grandmother also had small babies but rationing means you can't tell exactly)

My (older) sister was just under 6lb and I was just over 6lb.

My dh (his Mum’s second baby) was over 9lb.

I am very small (5’ with narrow hips) and was hoping for smallish babies.

Dc1 was 7lb 8oz. Dc2 was 8lb 5oz.

My sister doesn’t have any children so I can’t tell you how big hers would have been.

Not sure if that’s particularly helpful!

Thanks everyone, it’s interesting, even if it’s all a giant guessing game. I’ll find out in a few weeks...

I was 3lb (9.5 weeks early) my DH was two weeks overdue and 6lb2, I'm hoping to have small babies.. my mum is diabetic hence why she had bigger babies so I don't know... I'm only 17 weeks, baby has long legs though, hoping he's 6lb-7lb 😂

My babies have landed somewhere in the middle.
My family had quite average sized people - I’m 5’4” and slim, as is my sister. Both of us were average sized babies, both born at 7ish pounds.
My DH is of south East Asian origin, and generally they are smaller people than us westerners - his mum is 4’11” and he was 5lb something at full term.
Our babies were both 6ish pounds at birth.

I had a scan at 36 weeks and they said baby was measuring small and would be around 5lbs at most... was induced at 37 weeks because of this and she was 7lbs 6oz and really long, if I'd gone to 40 weeks or more she'd have been huge!

All pretty average in our family: I was 7lb something, as was my sister. DC1 was 7lb 7 at 39+4 and DC2 was 7lb 4 at 40+5 which apparently made him "small for gestational age". MIL commented on how big they both were as DH and SIL were both 5lb something.

I know a really tall couple (both 6 ft plus) that had a tiny 5lb something baby (not premature, no other complications, just tiny!) and a very petite woman who had an 11lb baby so I think you can get a surprise!

Dh and I are both average height, he weighed 10lbs something, and I was 8lb 6oz. Both full term, I was late by a couple of weeks.

Our DTs were born at 36+5 due to preeclampsia and weighed 6lbs 6 and 7lbs 3. They’d shown no signs of coming, I had an elcs. I was measuring 56 weeks pregnant the day I had them.

They do say that the scans can be around 10% out either way. Good luck!

Larger babies that then turn into smaller children run in my family. DM was 10 lb at birth and is 5 ft 3 and less than 8 stone as an adult. I was almost 8lb born at 38 weeks. DS and DD were 8 lb 10 and 9 lb 2 oz respectively, on the 75th and 90th centiles. Both have since dropped several centiles down to about the 25th centile. DSis had similar with her children, so it does feel like something that is genetically linked somehow.

I had three additional growth scans. Two were accurate, predicting his actual 10lb 2oz weight, one was an anomaly predicting a smaller baby. No one in my family has had a baby that big in recent memory, mostly around 8lb or so. Whatever happens, I’m not convinced the size of the baby makes a huge difference. I don’t think I had a harder time compared to the rest of my nct group who birthed babies from 5-9lb. There are so many other factors in the experience.

However it is nice having a lovely chunky baby with fat rolls and potentially not having to worry as much about weight and strength!

Scans aren't very accurate, well they weren't for me.

I was 8lbs10
Sister was 7lbs 5
Brother was 8lbs 4

My partner was 2lbs5 very premature

Our DS was 9lbs 3 born one day before my due date so might have been nearly 10lbs if he went over.

I think it's hard to tell.

Congratulations!!! 🙌

My mum told me I would have a big baby as all the women on her side of the family do. My little one 9lb 4 so she was right the Midwife’s were a bit shocked I think when they weighed him don’t think they were expecting it as I was quite neat and all bump . Now pregnant with second and I’m sure he/she will be a decent size

My first three DC were fairly large- 10 lbs, 9 lbs 6 and 10 lbs 3 so I expected DC4 would be huge too as did the midwives and consultants. He surprised us all at 8 lbs 5 which is absolutely tiny to me especially when he lost the usual weight as all newborns do and got down to 7 lbs 8, I’d never held a baby so tiny!

However he’s now 5 months old and in 9-12 month clothing. He pitched in at around the 50th centile mark at birth, he’s now up to the 95th so he soon caught up!

I was 9 lbs 7 at birth and most babies in my family were large. My parents were also nine pounders.

I am from a relatively tall family. Myself and my 2 sisters were all around the 9lb mark.
When I was pregnant with dd, I had to have multiple growth scans as I was told she was measuring big. I was preparing myself for a behemoth baby but she was born at 39 weeks weighing exactly 7lbs. She was so dinky that newborn clothes were too big on her!

I was 6lbs 3oz, DH was 8lbs 6oz and DS was 8lbs 10oz. Interested to see what DC2 will be as I'm pregnant again.

Big babies run in families - my mum had 3 whoppers - biggest was over 11lbs.

I told my consultant this at 12 wk apt & she completely dismissed me. She came in to apologise after my 10lb 4 baby was born

Next baby was 3 weeks early & over 9lbs. Was told if I'd gone full term, he'd could have been 11lbs 😬

From experience the estimation done during pregnancy is pretty inaccurate. Try not to worry about it

Me & my brother were prem babies and we have both had small babies so yeah i think it does run in families ,maybe not always.

It tends to follow the maternal line from what I've read and certainly did in my case.