Question for Mothers Who Had Big Babies

No correlation. My first baby was 9.2 lbs. He's now a 6-foot-1, 145 lb string bean at age 17. My younger sons were smaller at birth and shorter/heavier by comparison at just about every age past 2. My brothers were both 10lb babies but tall and slender. My sisters and I were around 7 lbs and 2 of us are overweight.

None of my three kids is overweight, and they were all fairly big babies. The lightest was 9 lbs 6 oz and the heaviest was 10 lbs 6 oz. So no, I don't think there's a correlation. Each one got bigger, and my last, the heaviest at birth, is pretty skinny and has a hard time keeping weight on.

Not with mine. My biggest was just under 11 lbs and is tall now and thin. But not the tallest in his class. Probably around 75th percentile.
All my kids were top percentiles and no - none are overweight. But we're not really big people (as parents) either. More on the smaller side.

My son was 9.5 pounds,at birth. They measured his head several times in the delivery room, and carefully examined his head, as they were afraid there was some kind of swelling (there was not). At his 2 week check up, he was 11.5 pounds (breastfed only).

He wore 4T size clothing by the time he was 15 months old.

A funny story: we visited my parents once, for a week, when my son was 17 months old. They lived in a nice little village and I would take my son for walks everyday. He loved walking past the local fire station and trying to say "truck" which came out more like "uh". He would babble excitedly as he saw the big trucks up close. After a few days, one of the firefighters was outside, cleaning a truck, and he said hello to me. He then said "I just wanted to say that you're doing a great job with him". I wondered what he meant - I was just taking my son for daily walks. I told him, in a quizzical way, "thank you?" and he said "even though your son can't talk or walk well, you're so patient with him." I replied by just casually commenting that he seemed to be on track, since he wasn't even a year and a half old yet, and the fireman burst out in friendly laughter. They had observed us for several days, and they thought my son was maybe 4 years old, unable to speak or walk without help (he could walk, but was still in that wobbly stage)! That's how big he was!

Until he was about 5, he was ahead of the curve, but consistent in both height and weight on the charts (always 95 - 99%). He started slowing down then (meaning I could buy him clothes and shoes that he'd fit for more than a month or two).

Now, he's 27. He's 6'3", with size 12 feet, and he weighs 190 pounds. His weight has always been in the healthy range, once he reached age 5 or so.

There is a correlation between high birth weight and later risk of obesity. There is published data on the topic. Way more valid than an anecdotal survey of Mamapedia users.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21438992

I was a big baby, over 11 pounds and almost 2 feet long. I was a skinny child, not gaining weight really until college (studying and snacking instead of walking all over). My 2 youngest were 8 pounds 4 ounces and 8 pounds 5 ounces. While the BMI charts say they are obese, just by looking at them u know they are not. My dd is a bit chubby but not obese. Barely gained any weight with all pregnancies and did not look like I had a baby. Now I am overweight because I was in a car accident and could barely walk for over a year. think tying these together can really skew things and it is a rare correlation. It all depends on the lifestyle.

I don't think there's a correlation.

My daughter was 8 lbs. 4 oz. at birth (75th percentile on the chart), but she's been in the 44th percentile since her 2 year check up (she's 3 now). She's close to 90th on the height chart, so even though her weight is considered average, she looks really thin.

My two youngest were both big babies, 9lbs even and 9lbs 2oz. The first one is huge now(14yrs old, over 6ft and over 200lbs, but not fat) the other (bigger at birth) is almost 13 and very small for his age.

A dear friend of mine's last child was born prematurely and only weighed slightly over 2 pounds but now at 8 years old is overweight.

I don't believe birthweight has anything to do with childhood or adult weight. My birth son was born 8lbs3oz and is now 21 years old, tall, muscular and lean.

Both my kids were 10.12 and 11# almost 2 weeks early, so they would have been even bigger. They are on the chubby side now but then thin out when they have a growth spurt. I think being overweight has a lot to do with genetics unfortunately.

My biggest baby was 9 lbs at birth, which is 90th percentile. By the time he was 1, he was 10th percentile for weight (but perfectly healthy). He remains on the smaller end for his age now that he's in 4th grade.

So, he's not an adult yet, but no correlation so far.

Yes I had two big babies (both girls) one was 9lb 2oz 24 inches long and the other was 9lbs 12oz and 22 1/2 inches long. They both struggle with their weight as do I.

Both of my boys were under 8 pounds, now one is stick thin and the other is chunky. I do not think there is any correlation.

Me and my siblings were all big babies. We were all thin children and are thin adults. My mother probably would have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes if they had tested for it back then. We are all in our 40's. My mom now is a type II diabetic.

I do not think there is a correlation between birth weight and childhood/adult obesity. There is a correlation between delivering big babies and develping type II diabetes.

I'm sure there is a study (or 15) about this somewhere, you could probably Google it. Just sayin'.

That being said, my son was 9 lbs, 5 oz and at 6 is he still in the 95-100% for his height and weight. He is proportionate however, so I would not call him overweight.

my nephew was huge at birth, over 9 lbs. and he is average now. my kids were average at birth and are now thin. my brother was average at birth and is now an adult weighing close to 250 lbs (beefy not fatty) so i don't think there is a connection to birthweight.
there is a connection to how you feed them when they start soloids though

No, there isn't. My sister in law has several children and every one of them weighed over 9 and a half pounds. She is about 4'10" and tiny. Her kids, they are all tiny or normal adults. Their children had big babies too and they are normal size.

my 2nd was 9lbs 10 oz with a big charlie brown blockhead.

and it was on me. i gained a TON of weight during that pregnancy, and i'm pretty sure i made my baby fat.

he was chunky all the way up to puberty. he's lean and mean now, but will probably always have to keep an eye on it.

no clue at this point how much is due to my over-indulgence, and how much is genetic. but i can tell you for sure that i wish i had been more disciplined during that pregnancy. the specter of it being my fault that he had to cope with being a chunky kid for all those years haunts me.
khairete
S.

I had 4 big babies.
Girl 10 lbs. 24 inches long. She is now 33yrs old. And is 145 lbs 5 ft 9 inches tall.
Boy 9 lbs 5 oz 23 inches long. He's now 27 years old. weighs 175 and is just over 6 ft tall
Boy 9 lb 2 oz 20 inches long (he was 3weeks early and very jaundiced) he is now 25years old. 6 ft 2 inches weighs in at 200 even
Boy 9 lbs 13 oz 23 1/2 inches long. He's now 20 years old. 6 ft 1 inch tall and weighs just over 200

My son was 9 lbs exactly at birth. His weight is usually above the 90% for his age. However, he is a very solid child - big muscles, solid bones, and hardly any fat at all. He is deceptively heavy - no one thinks he weighs as much as he does until they try to lift him.

He is 8 year old and almost 70 lbs.

My biggest baby is turning out to be my smallest kid (almost 9 lbs at birth, in 33rd percentile for height and 38th percentile for weight now) while my smallest baby is turning out to be my biggest kids (5 lbs 5 oz at birth, in 90th percentile for height and 88th percentile for height now)

One 6.15 who was never lean as a child. As an adult, she can be a little on the heavy side, so she works hard with proper diet and exercise to keep the weight down. Only with that combination, can she manage to keep herself slim. I consider her a small baby.

The other, 8.04 who has always been a big (off the charts) girl. She has remained at 97th percentile for height and weight. Even with exercise, she cannot keep the weight off. We are working on a lean diet and that has helped the weight. At 10, she is 5'2" 139 lbs, with the diet. She has a lot of muscle, but not lean. I consider this one as a good sized baby.

Both full term.

I was always a skinny kid well into adulthood. I have found myself quite voluptuous these days.

My DD was 9lbs 12oz at birth. She is 5 now, and is very tall and thin. Her pediatrician says that she may look like she's too skinny, but that she is at a perfect weight for her height.

My son was 8 12oz at birth. He was always a very solid child. Never tall, never fat. Just solid and average height. Today, at 17, he is about 5'9" (same as his dad) and his pants fall down from his waist all the time. I keep telling him he needs to go down a size in the waist, but he has a mental thing about that, I guess. Keeps buying 31s. :/ He weighs about the same (maybe less?) as my 14 year old daughter (who is going through that pubescent belly bulge time), which means somewhere in the 140-145 range. She was 7 6oz at birth and has always been on the shorter side (I'm 5'7" and she is probably 5'5" now... like my mother used to be).

He was definitely a "larger" baby (not huge though) but is not at all obese. He reminds me of pictures of my dad as a very young adult. He was 6'3" and a very trim (not a bean pole... I actually know some one like that and it is a little different.. the level of thinness). Son is solid (shoulders are defined, hands are large and defined) but not "skinny"... and in no way would he be considered heavy. Very lean, but not skinny. Like when he was 9 on the beach and had washboard abs in his swim trunks. LOL

I had very large babies. Both of them were 5 - 6 weeks early and weighed 7.5 pounds. Doctors expect babies to gain about a pound a week the last month, so if they had gone to term, they would have weighed about 12 pounds.

Now they are 11 and almost 18 and they are both significantly underweight. They struggle to gain weight and have to work with doctors to try to reach healthy weights even though they eat all the time. I also struggle with the same thing. We have high metabolisms in our family. That seems to be a bigger indicator of weight than birth weight.