So why do slim women sometimes give birth to huge babies?

[GYo]

Not wanting to start a row about large/slim women but after watching britains biggest babies being born to large women, where it seems large/obese women sometimes give birth to large babies.

So, what is it that makes slim women give birth to heffers?

I am size 10/12, BMI pre pregnancy of 19. I put on 2.5stone in preganancy. My baby was nearly 11bs at birth.

Does anyone know why this happens? Am really curious now. I am quite tall but not huge (5, 10)

Midwife said it was because i ate too much chocolate and said it was all my fault - that comment really didnt help matters in the early days!

Anyone got a scientific viewpoint?

I am sure someone better informed than me will come along, however I think your height and the height/weight of your partner will be a factor in the size of your baby. The MWs comment were obviously bolleaux.

I was a size 8-10 before I had my first baby. I put on 4 stone and have birth to a 10 lb-er.

No sniff of diabetes/blood sugar problems etc. However, there is a history of big babies in my family - my dad weighed 12 lb 13 oz and his twin sisters were 7lbs each. DH is also over 6 foot and a chunky, broad shouldered kinda guy...

my HV told me that the size (weight) of a baby at birth is very much to do with how 'good' the conditions are inside the uterus. which is why you can get very petite women having large babies. The other factor, though is the parents' build.

Flippant comments like this from a MW can have such an impact in the early days.

I was like you BMI 19, size 8/10. Baby 8,12lb. Husband 6 foot 3 rugby playing biggie. Must be to do with parental genetics?

Chocolate, pah!

I'm small size 8/10, my husband is not tall, no big babies history in the family, I ate lot of health food during pregnancy and my baby was born with almost 11 lb (???) I had to have a c-session. Now I'm pregnant again and scared this will happen again (???)

Thanks, its interesting.

Sweetlaur- good luck, are you getting any special monitoring this pregnancy? extra scans etc?

The chocolate comment wasnt helpful. I was 15 days in and DD was not gaining weight (clearly getting to her own ideal centile!) and the MWs were here every day checking things. The midwife who said it wasnt my regular one. At the time i believed her and was overwhelmed with guilt at the time- anyway, all is fine now DD is on 50th centile and very healthy.

Some babies are big, nothing wrong with that. As long as you do the best you can, it surely doesn't matter.

I have a friend who is a skinny mini, though quite tall, she has had two 12+ pounders. Eats well, is in excellent health the bubs are fine and tall and thin. She just has big babies.

It is the way it goes.

I think sugar may have been a factor in my first 2 big babies (10lb 5oz and 11lb 12oz respectively).

I felt sick all the way through and constantly snacked on carbs - even sipped Coke at my desk for the first one and I normally never drink junk.

With number three (8lb 10oz but a tiddler to me) I'd given up sugar, so I snacked on nuts and dried fruit and generally had a healthier diet, with less heartburn to deal with but still snacky nausea.

Was 5ft 7in and 9st 4lb before getting pg with each of them.

Not impressed with that MW's comment, though.

GYo they will decide if they will monitor me after the 20 wks scan (I will be 21 wks actually). But the MW said it is very likely, I'm not sure how they will do it.

Morloth this is true there is nothing wrong about having big babies, my son is perfectly healthy and have a healthy weight (although I think he should gain extra pounds, but he eats well, and that's really good). I think our only fear is the labour or if we will need a c-section. Well, that's my fear anyway.

Midwife comment may not have been helpful - but had you referred to either of my big babies as heffers as I would have been devastated.

It's got nothing to do with how slim you are. It's to do with the size of your frame. I am 5'11 and not fat (a bit bigger than you) and mine were 10'4, 9'6 and 10 4. if you give birth to a child whose genes dictate he/he will be tall/big, he/she has to start off bigger than a child who is only destined to be 5 2.

i am 5 2 and normally a size ten, three of my babies were over 9lb and the last one was 10lb 13oz, my partner is 6ft and the boys are all big and obviously take afer him, i birthed them all naturally tho, last one in a birth pool apprently i have a good pelvis for childbirth, which is lucky

we are planning no 5 and i will expect a large baby again, i had extra growth scans as they actually thought my babies were small (my bump measured small for dates)

i ate a healthy diet, infact with the last two i craved raw celery and carrots, and went off chocolate

I'm pretty slim: size 10, 5'5" and only put on about 9Kg for last preg, even bump looked neat; but DS came out 9lbs 5oz (not big compared to many on this thread, but pretty eye-watering for me). Midwife asked if he was made of maltesers . Am veggie and had a pretty good diet all through pg, though maybe had more than the odd bit of cake!

It's genetic as well as environmental though it's it? I thought babies weight was related to mother's / father's own birth weight?

Not a heavy baby here but I'm only 5' and a size 10/12 and, although ds was only 6lb 13oz, he was a very long baby. The consultant at the hospital warned me that this might be the case (and accounted for the rib pain) as dh is 6'2".

Ds is still on the top end of the height scale which looks quite humourous when we're out together. He's more than half my height at nearly 3 years old .

Im only just over 5ft, very small boned, and was a size 8 before pregnancy. Had a lot of scans where they put the fear of god into me, going on about 10lb'ers, very large heads etc. Was induced early going by my dates and dd was over 8.7lb, not big for this thread but large for my build. If she had come when she was supposed to, she probably would have been over 9lb. My twin is 4ft 10 and a size 4, had two 7lb'ers at 5 weeks premature. We both have very good diets (apart from the ice cream!). My friend who is 5ft 9in has had very lovely dainty babies. Tis very strange.

This is all really interesting. I wonder if there has been any research done into the parent height/wt link to birth weight.

I was 9 stone size 8-10 when I fell pregnant with ds1. I was also 5 ft 11
He was 9lb 14

Mice- certainly didnt mean to offend with word heffer. Was just an expression

Think if the chocolate hating mw had called my DD a heffer I'd have asked her to leave my house!

OrmIrian that doesn't make sense.

My Mum is 4'10 by brother was nearly 9lbs but unsurprisingly he isn't particularly tall (my Dad isn't either!) I was 8lb 2oz and am 5'

My first baby was average 7lb 6oz (I was underweight when I conceived).

With a different partner I had 3 more dds
10lb 6
9lb 2 (2 weeks earlier)
9lb 10oz

so all fairly large weights but as they've grown they are all on different centiles and the heaviest is the skinny tall one? With the lighter ones being the chunkier bigger framed ones.

I think I make big babies, I'm very fertile etc but my partner influences whether they will be huge or not he's 6'3

4madboys I also measured small I had been told it was probably because I hid the size due to my height but you seem to contradict that

I'm size 10 normally, husband is 6'5" and I've had two big babies and am probably brewing a third big baby. I look very strange as all the weight I put on is bump - I look like I could topple over any minute.

This is interesting. Like Gyo, I wonder if any research has been done on this.

I was size 12 before DD and am a short Welshie from a family of small Welshies. DD was a not-particularly-big 7lbs 13. But she had slight talipes ('club foot'), which the physio said was because she was a big baby for me (since DH is 6ft) so was squashed.

i'm normal weight but tall - 5' 10" - dd was 9lb 4, ds2 was 10lb 13 but ds2 was only 8lb 6. Its always amazed me the difference in size with both ds's at birth when my diet & lifestyle were no different with each pregnancy. They were also both born at 41 weeks.

sweetluar - i had a couple of growth scans after the 20 week one for ds2 just to keep an eye on what size he was - they got it spot on (although i didnt believe them until ds2 was out). You can definitely ask for repeat scans to put your mind at rest as to how big dc2 might be - but you'll still not know whether you'll have a section or not.

I really wanted to see that programme! I'm also slim-built and medium height, but my last two babies were 10lb 9oz and 11lb 8oz! DH is also slim (but tallish).

My Mum reckons it's something to do with the mother being from peasant stock, and her body is primed to squeeze every last nutrient out of her diet, but if she is now able to eat well (and most Westerners can nowadays) this will end up producing an enormo-baby.

I think in my case she blames my father's working class side of the family