My first baby weighed 9lbs 7oz. Not ginormous but definitely a big baby, known as Macrosomia. I was reliably informed that, as a newborn, he looked three months old (I myself had no idea what a three month old baby looked like). I was fairly concerned when I was pregnant the second time as baby birth weight has a tendency to increase with each pregnancy. Luckily Girl Child was 8lbs exactly, small enough to be average but big enough to be healthy. There are some things that you only know if you’ve had a large baby, here are my top 8.
They are really bloody heavy
You know how new mums often carry the baby around in the car seat with the car seat hung casually over their arm? Yeah, we can’t do that. I will always remember my midwife warning me not to carry Boy Child in his car seat for the sake of my back and she was right. I did it for the first month and then the car seat stayed firmly in the car.
Other babies will seem tiny
When another new mum offers you a hold of their baby you will be afraid of damaging it. Your baby seems so robust and resilient. Other people’s seem like little birds who will break if you sneeze on them.
People will expect more of a big baby
When you’re at baby groups, other mums will assume that your baby is older than it is. You will be asked if your three month old is sitting and if you 6 month old is walking. It can be very disconcerting.
You will hear the word “ouch” a lot
When people ask your baby’s birth weight (usually after having incorrectly guessed their age) 9 times out of 10, their response will be “ouch”. You will smile politely while inside saying “yes, I’m well aware of how much of an ouch it was”.
Many of your pre birth purchases will be wasted
The newborn clothes never fitted and the 0-3 month olds were outgrown in a month. Early visitors will arrive with cute, tiny outfits only to realise that they would probably have fitted your baby when you were about 8 months pregnant. Things for the early baby days like Moses Baskets will turn out to be a waste of money because, from day one, the baby bangs it’s arms on the side and wakes itself up. Bumbos will be outgrown by 9 months and Jumperoos will be useless by 10 months. FFS.
A big baby eats a lot
Breastfeeding a 9lbs 7oz baby who has a tongue tie is pretty much a 24 hour a day job. Bigger babies have bigger bodies to sustain but their stomach’s are still pretty tiny so they feed A LOT. By the time Boy Child was 6 months I was actually thinner than before I got pregnant. (It didn’t last, obviously).
People hand back a Big Baby quickly
Everyone loves to cuddle a baby no matter what size they are. What is different though is that they get handed back more quickly. They are fine for a sitting down cuddle but once they start doing that grizzly whine where you need to walk them around to keep them happy, people soon decide their back isn’t up to it. Disclaimer: in my case this could also have been to do with the high risk of being vomited on.
You might feel a bit short changed
In all seriousness, it can be a bit of a shock having a big baby. I can remember walking around the ward and seeing all of these tiny babies and wondering why mine was different. I felt like I’d missed out on the tiny baby stage and that seemed a bit unfair.
So, that’s how I experienced having a bigger than average baby. I’d love to know how you felt about your baby’s size, be it big, small or somewhere in the middle.
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Mine was 5lb 9 and was so small Daddy had to rush out to get ‘tiny baby’ clothes. I was scared to hold him! He’s made up for it since and is nearly 3 stone and not yet 2!! Even tiny babies are still an ‘ouch’ – respect to all mamas, no matter the size, or how they arrive xxx
First daughter was 6lb 15, the next five got gradually bigger, all in the 7lb region, number 7 was 9lb 6 and I totally agree with all you’ve said. Is your larger baby still big now, Viggo is in reception but is much taller than some of the year 1s and year 2s! I say he’s going to be a rugby player like his dad!!
So many great points. I had an average followed by small baby so I have no experience. My younget is 3 and still fits in some 12-18 months clothes!
Yes to all of this, my scenic was 9lb 14oz.
Both of mine were 2 weeks late and were ‘big’ for me as I’m quite small – I think the issue was the shape and size of their heads too! They did quite a lot of damage on the way out (yes, as you say – ouch!) and I now have really bad diastasis rectii and stretched skin from the enormity of my bump (I was the same size as my twin who was pregnant with twins lol!). None of the newborn clothes were big enough and I did feel like I missed the tiny baby stage as they were so robust!
This is so accurate! My first born was 7lb 13oz which was lovely. My next one was 9lb 1.5 oz and my current 7 week old was 9lb 15oz! Definitely skipped the tiny baby stage which I feel a bit gutted about but he’s still lush. We keep forgetting just how young he is though which is the only problem.
My first was 7lb 7oz. When I was pregnant with my second, from about 20 weeks onwards, the midwife consistently said baby was measuring at least 3 weeks under and in a very strange position so eventually we were referred for a late stage growth scan. We were told at about 37 weeks baby was likely about 5lb… When he was born and the midwife weighed him, she said 9lb 11oz. I laughed and thought she was trying to lighten the mood after all the drama. Nope. 9lb bloody 11oz.
I don’t know why they bother with these Measurement scans, they never seem to be even close!
What a great post and I’m sure I’ve said a few of those ouches before now.
Thank You! X
This is hilarious! I also had all big babies, and yes, I also felt cheated out of the tiny baby stage…the most annoying part is that the doctors and other people think that they are overweight and you’re feeding them too much. Now they are all tall and skinny…go figure.
Yep, you definitely get some comments about the size and how much you’re feeding Them!
I feel your pain completely. My first son was 9lb 12oz, and in the hospital ward we were next to a 4lb baby that made mine look like a monster. The second son was 10lb 12oz, but must admit I bought nothing below a 3-6 month for him x
Mine were not big – both under 7 pounds. And even they outgrew some of the clothes in a couple of weeks. I definitely learned that when I give baby clothes as a gift I go for at least 6 months size. That way they can always grow into it.
I love this post! And yep they are heavy as hell😂
Thank you! X
I’ve had two above average babes (7.14 & 9) and I can 100% agree that other babies seem tiny. Most of my friends have had 6lb something babies and I couldn’t even hold them because I was so worried about hurting them. P. S that was after I’d had mine 😂
It’s crazy how small a 6lb baby seems!
Some great points! I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to invest in baby items and not be able to use them as your little one outgrows them too quickly.
Thank god for nearly new sales!
Brilliant post! I hadn’t really thought about it before. I can see how it would be annoying with all the “ouch” comments. Pretty sure I would say that, without realising you’d heard it a million times. Oops. Xx
I never really minded, i’ve Probably said it myself a few times! X
My son was 9lbs 10ozs and boy was he big! He also had a tongue tie and I breastfeed constantly. Sadly it wasn’t enough and he dropped over a pound in weight.
The only bonus to that was he fitted all those newborn clothes!
A great post that is so accurate! Thank you for being so honest!
The tongue tie makes it so hard doesn’t it?
Awww bless! I never thought about it like that. And “ouch”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Mine were smaller but they still blady ouched! 🤣
Both my babies were average size but my neice and nephew were both 10 pound babies! I have to admit they did look pretty big compared to other babies but were gorgeous to cuddle. And yes, they did eat alot!
I had a larger baby and three small babies – my prem baby was so small people thought he was a doll! I guess I had the opposite problem…
I’d have been terrified if I had a prem baby, definitely prefer to have a big one.
My little girl was 8lb7 so not huge but she grew quickly too, so the first time I went to a breastfeeding group I was amazed how tiny the others seemed, and I was almost embarrassed talking about feeding when she was obviously getting loads
You must have the golden breast Milk!