healthy birth weight for baby

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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby ETeSelle » Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:16 pm

Adrienne wrote:Also as I stated earlier maternal dairy protein intake leads to bigger babies, regardless of the mother's weight:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21697074

Ah -- that explains (perhaps) my brother's and my high birthweights. My mother has always consumed dairy. But being anorexic she has never consumed MUCH of it and she barely even gained much weight when she was pregnant (so we must have been taking every extra bit of anything she was taking in to be so big with such a little mother!).
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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby VeggieSue » Thu Feb 09, 2012 2:14 pm

Did anyone see this in today's news:

Mom in central China gives birth to 15 pound baby
Feb 8, 1:03 PM (ET)

BEIJING (AP) - A mother in central China has given birth to a 15.52 pound (7.04 kilogram) baby, possibly the largest newborn on record since the country's founding in 1949.

The state-run Tianjin Post said Tuesday that the 29-year-old mother in Henan province gave birth to the boy Saturday by cesarean section. It said delivery took just 20 minutes and both mother and the baby, named Chun Chun, are doing fine.

The paper said Chun Chun's parents are average size and there was nothing unusual about his mother's pregnancy or diet.

The paper said it wasn't immediately clear whether Chun Chun made China's record books.

Guinness World Records says the heaviest newborn ever recorded was born to an Ohio woman in 1879 and weighed 23.7 pounds (10.77 kilograms).
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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby Adrienne » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:23 pm

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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby shell-belle » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:28 pm

Thanks to all who answered me. Wow that was some robust Chinese baby!
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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby txveggie » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:53 pm

My oldest son weighed a lttle over 7 pounds and as an adult he is 5'8" and needs to lose 40 pounds, my youngest was almost 10 pounds and is 6'2" and weighs about 180 so go figure. Also my nephew who weighed over 10 pounds is rail thin.
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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby suleviae » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:35 pm

Hi, new here! :D

*

First off, I think the link between big birth weight and more weight later in life is directly linked to uncontrolled gestational diabetes. This is distinctly different than larger babies born to healthy, non-diabetic moms.

I found this in a quick google, though it's not directly linked to the scientific study: "If an expectant mother can't metabolize sugar properly, her fetus may start producing extra insulin. The insulin functions as a growth hormone that makes the baby bigger and increases its chances of growing up overweight." (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... dults.html)

*

"The larger the mother, the larger the baby, and the high-er the risk of emergency Cesarean birth and injury to mother and infant.3 Full-term infants weighing eight to twelve pounds cannot easily fit through their mothers’ birth canals, which are designed for five- to seven-pound babies."

I would be curious to see the statistics for c-sections: the average weight of the mom, the average weight of the child. C-sections are becoming increasingly common and popular - and _definitely_ not only with overweight mamas or big babies.

I think you might find that midwives have more success with "big" babies. Mine said they were quite common with their clients, and these were not women eating junk food. There is a _big_ fear with normal OBGYNs over birth weight. This, however, is hugely do to positions "allowed" at birth and various interventions put into place (such as epidurals). It actually makes a significant difference with how the pelvic area opens during birth for the child's descent.

Women's bodies weren't made for a certain size - they were made to get their _own_ child into the world, gestational diabetes aside. For many women, that may very well be the 6 to 8 pound range - average means average. Given the right environment and an unmedicated birth, it's rarely a real problem though.

My own experiences (as a vegetarian, but not on Dr McDougall's):

Son - 8lb, 14 ounces; birthed unmedicated on hands-and-knees position; arrived after 30 minutes of pushing; only a really tiny tear (due to his hand being by his face) (no stitches needed); left the hospital in under 24 hours. Big baby while exclusively breastfeeding, then leaned out. Now 9, very lean and fit.

Daughter - 9lb, 4 ounces; birthed unmedicated while upright on a birthing stool; arrived after 15 minutes of pushing; no tears; born at home. Big baby while exclusively breastfeeding, then leaned out. Now 5, lean and fit.

Son - 10lbs; birthed unmedicated while partial lying down; arrived after 10 minutes of pushing; no tears; left the hospital in under 36 hours. Big baby while exclusively breastfeeding, then leaned out. Now 2.5, lean and fit.

With my last, the nurses couldn't get over how alert he was, how strong his head was (he was looking all around), said they had never seen a newborn as aware as he was. :D

I'm 5'8", but my sister is several inches shorter and successfully had healthy, large babies vaginally too (shrug).

http://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/smal ... g-baby-cpd
http://www.breastfeeding.com/helpme/baby_fit.html
http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/?p=831
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Re: healthy birth weight for baby

Postby Broadbean » Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:04 pm

There's definitely a genetic component somewhere. Among my mother, me, and my sister, not a one of us has given birth to a child under 8 pounds. We were all at or below average height and weight at the time we got pregnant and gained an average amount of weight, and none of the children is overweight.

I believe pretty strongly that a woman should NOT try and keep her child small while she's pregnant, but should eat healthily and to appetite. Nature knows better than she does.
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