It’s one of those inevitable comments you get when you are pregnant. ‘Isn’t your bump small’ or ‘Isn’t your bump big’. Neither of which I have come to realise have little bearing on the birth weight of your baby.
The birth weight of the girls wasn’t really something I ever really considered. Obviously I wasn’t exactly relishing the thought of a giant 9lb baby but so long as they were healthy then that was ok.
Then when I developed Obstetric Cholestasis with Molly I started to worry a bit. She was most definitely going to be arriving early, although how early we didn’t know. As if being told of the serious risks of OC wasn’t enough they then decided that she was very small. It was too much for me to take in and having all those additional worries just made it harder. Off I was sent for a growth scan and turns out she was just fine. I just had a small bump but these sorts of comments are the one’s that make you worry.
In the end Molly was born at 36 weeks weighing a healthy 6lb 6oz. I’m guessing she would have been a large baby if I’d gone full term. She was pretty tiny though and I remember being to hold her just on my forearm. She ended up being in Neo Natal for a short while due to some complications but I have to say that compared to the other babies in there she was giant. Most babies do loose weight after birth but Molly lost a lot and at one point was down 5lb 5oz which was worrying. Luckily, once we were home she started to gain weight and steadily grew in line with her chart.
My bump was a lot bigger with Alice. I felt huge but yet again I was told she was measuring small so more growth scans were planned. Turned out that my doctor and midwife had both been measuring me slightly differently and so it was sending my chart all out of kilter.
Alice was also born at 36 weeks and weighed 6lb 12oz. Again, she was tiny but but she was the complete opposite to Molly. Despite being so small she soon piled on the pounds after birth. When she was born she was on the 25th percentile of her chart, by 4 weeks she was on the 91st!
On the flip side I have friends who have been worrying as they have been told their baby is really big only to have a teeny tiny person. I just don’t think you can tell.
I’ve often wondered if there is a real difference in giving birth to a heavier baby. Is it really going to be as hard as you would imagine versus a little tiny dot? Obviously each labour is different. However, my mum has had 4 kids (crazy!) and can honestly say she doesn’t remember much difference between the births despite our weights ranging from 6lb to 9lb 8oz (that would be my brother!!).
So what was the birth weight of your baby? Was it in line with expectations and a reflection of your bump size or a complete surprise?
Image by Anna at We Are The Clarkes.
10lb 6oz. BUT 60cm long. I don’t think you can go on weight alone.
I think a bigger birth weight made things like feeding and development easier. She could hold her head up pretty much from birth. She’s now just below 50% on weight and just below 91st on length so these things balance out.
No second time experience for comparison but ask me again in 8 weeks. Bump is huge again though.
I really can’t remember how long the girls were. I must go and check their red books now. I know Molly was always on the 25th for weight and 91st for height so she must have been tall. Alice on the other hand is 91st for weight and 50th for height but the health visitor always assured me she was in proportion! xx
I’m impressed you know where their red books are……
My little boy was 10lb 6oz as well, Rebecca. He ended up being delivered by emergency c-section, I think his big head was stuck!
I’m expecting my second, and I’m already worrying about the size of this one… I’m really hoping not to need a c-section but I’ve got growth scans booked in so that they can monitor it.
Do you think that the baby’s birth weight is linked to how much weight the mum gains during pregnancy? I did put on a lot of weight last time, so I’m trying to be more careful this time, but I don’t know if it makes much difference!
I’m not sure it makes that much difference Jane in truth but then I think the whole weight thing is so random. I was small with Molly and didn’t put on that much weight but with Alice I felt huge and they were both similar. It’s such a guessing game xx
I put on 4 stone with my daughter. This time my bump is bigger but I’ve only put on 8lbs the whole pregnancy. I think my body is using the excess stores from before.
I don’t think it’s to do with how much weight you put on. I know someone who put on just over a stone and had a 12lb 4oz baby (totally stealing my heavy baby thunder in the process…..)
But as I say, ask me again in 8 weeks!
8lb 10oz born 41 weeks + 2. I wasn’t concerned about weight at all as long as he was healthy. My bump measured bang on through my pregnancy (I.e 36cm at 36 weeks, 38cm at 38 etc.). I had people say I was enormous (are you sure it’s not twins?) and people say My bump was small! My midwife said my bump was ‘all baby’ I guessing meaning he was big but he wasn’t massive when he was born. He too spent a few days on the neo natal unit from the moment he was born and he looked like a giant baby compared to the little tiny prem babies. He’s continued to grow well and does look older than his 12 weeks! I’m getting him weighed again tomorrow so will be intrigued to find how big he is now!
It’s so strange when they are bigger on neo natal isn’t it? I was so worried for Molly then turned around and saw these teeny tiny ones and she just looked so…big. Good luck on the weigh in. x
Everyone kept telling me how huge I was. And I did look a bit ridiculous. I was definitely ‘all bump’ as they say. But I’m 5’2 and a size 6, and my son was 8lb 1oz (born at 40 + 4). So for my frame he was big. But not as enormous as people kept telling me he would be! I had a straight forward birth without stitches, again surprising considering he was my first etc. But I had a water birth and a great midwife. I have read size has little implication on the birth, and have heard of very straight forward large babies and less straight forward little ones and vice versa!
Completely agree on the births not being a reflection of size. Molly was teeny but her birth was anything but straightforward and ended up having an episiotomy just to get her out quickly due to complications. I’m pretty glad she was little! x
9lbs 13ozs. And I’m 5’4 and usually a size 8 so really was genuinely massive. He also had to go off to neonatal for IV antibiotics every few hours for a couple of days, so you can imagine the size difference between him and the preemies! The nurses loved him though and the midwives said they had to fight to get him back each time haha.
My little boy Alexander was born at 40+3, a month ago weighing 9lb 2oz which was completely unexpected by everyone. I did look big and everyone said it looked all baby but we were all thinking closer to 8lb.
We did have some issues with weight gain though as he became jaundiced and we had to constantly wake him to feed, which wasn’t great in the heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago. We persevered though and got there using cup feeding and syringe feeding.
I had him weighed last Friday and he was upto 10lb, exactly where he needs to be now. He does look like a giant compared to the other babies in our NCT group though lol
7lb 1 and born at exactly 39 weeks. I remember the midwife telling me I really had to push as I had a big baby but it was just his big head! He was the right size for his age but lost a bit of weight due to feeding issues and was down to 6lb 6 a few days later.
I had a few people tell me they thought I’d go into labour early as my bump was so big and surprise after they heard his weight “you must have been all fluid”. Thanks!!
11lb 4oz – 42 weeks I told the Drs I thought the baby was big but they said I was measuring right on dates. Needless to say after a failed in induction I had a c-section and all the midwives and Drs couldn’t believe how big he was!
First pump. Failed induction here too. They had to measure her head three times ‘just to make sure because this is quite unusual’
Yeah, tell it to the person that can’t find hats. She looks like a lollypop. All cheeks and hair and head.
My son was 7lb 10 which I didn’t think was big but lots of people commented it was! My bump showed up very quickly so I had the ‘is it twins’ comments from about 20 weeks. He was on the 50th percentile when born but quickly dropped and has stayed around the 9th percentile since was about 5 months. He is small for his age I think, we certainly got lots of comments about how small he was when he starting walking, he was only 12 months. He is now 19 months and still in 9-12 month trousers which are still a bit big at the waist, but getting short in the leg. In fact he came home in nursery spare shorts a few weeks ago and they were 3-6 months!! The percentiles get on my nerves though, the health visitors made us worry when commenting about him dropping down and said we needed to see a dr right away, but the GP said it was absolutely fine, he was just finding his natural curve and he would settle into his weight gain.
Zoe was 8lb 7oz, which was a relief because at my final check before giving birth they thought she would be 11 or 12lb by the time she was born. This scared the bejesus out of me as she is my first baby and I am 5′ 3″ and a size 8. Thankfully they were wrong, even though she wasn’t born til 40+8. I really do think it’s all guesswork. My midwife told me it doesn’t really matter about weight when it comes to giving birth – what’s really important is the size of their head. So maybe we should all be focusing on head circumference! 🙂
My babies were just over 8lb but born 2-3 weeks before due date. They would have been enormous had I gone overdue. They were also very long – still are!
So although 8lb-ish isn’t huge usually, it is for a baby born at 37/38 weeks – I had extra scans after my first baby to keep an eye on their growth. I think they just knew they’d be coming a touch early and so porked up in preparation, ha!
Ha – I can relate to this Fionnula!! Mine was 7lb 6 oz and born at 36+6, thank goodness she didn’t go to her due date!! Definitely porked up ready for an early arrival 🙂
Our daughter was just 5lb exactly when she was born at 38+1 but was absolutely perfect, we weren’t kept in and she is now a very deliciously chubby 15lb7oz (at 31weeks). She has climbed up the chart to now be on the border of the 9th/25th percentile and is thriving. I was monitored throughout my pregnancy as I had gestational diabetes which can result in a very big baby but we knew from the growth scans it (we didn’t know gender) was going to be a small one, which just didn’t figure quite his small. My bump was very small and neat and I think because of the gestational diabetes I was so strict with what I ate I didn’t really gain that much additional weight (I certainly made up for it after though!) My consultant said the nicest thing when we were having a worry about baby being small on the scans ‘you can only bake a cake as big as the oven’ which made us smile.
Whilst I was pregnant my bump kept measuring a few cm below or spot on. I wasn’t overly worried (I was only 4lb when I was born so I was never going to have a huge baby) until one midwife (not from my usual team) told me I wasn’t taking my pregnancy seriously enough and scolded me for measuring 26cm at 29 weeks. I was devastated and so upset at how rude this midwife was that I then became utterly obsessed with the size of my bump. At a growth scan at 36 weeks they estimated him being born at the 8lb mark and coming early. Arthur was eventually born at 40+6 weighing 6lb10, which was small but he was healthy and happy. Moral of the story? Who bl**dy knows?! X
They said what!? It’s amazing how people forget those comments stay with you forever. Glad Arthur healthy and well 🙂
It was horrid, I don’t think I will ever get over it! Thank you x
Oh, that was one of my peeves. The most common comment I had was that my bump was too small. I did have to have a few extra scans but little Gryff arrived at 38+5 at 6lb, after my blood pressure caused me to be induced. He was diddy, and still is for 10 weeks (10lb) but he’s usually a happy little boy.
He’s still not quite in his 0-3 month clothes, so his wardrobe was one of the biggest challenges and lessons learned. Always have a few smaller bits for a mini capsule wardrobe until they’re big enough for the gorgeous 0-3 gifts that friends and family send.
I was huge by the end, truly enormous! I went to virtually 42 weeks and could have nearly burst. Bubba however was a very compact 7lb 7oz – classified as a small baby as he was so overdue. He’s gradually crept up from 9th – 25th percentile to 25th – 50th so perfectly normal! He’s actually tall and slim. I guess you never really know! X
My husband is 6ft 3, and I’m 5ft 9, so we were very surprised to see our little daughter weigh in at 6lbs dead on! She was long (still is 17 months later) but has always been dainty, that’s the only word for her. I have a feeling she will grow into one of those stork children who are all limbs ❤️????
Juliet was 7lb 3oz at 38+3, Tess was 7lb 13oz at 41 weeks. Considering there was three weeks gestation between them, there wasn’t much of a size difference. Having said that, Juliet in the pics back then looks quite slim whereas Tess is a bit of a chubber with lots of squidgy delicious leg and wrist rolls to nibble on!
I have no idea what centile either of them have followed because I didn’t get Juliet weighed and wasn’t intending to get Tess done either. Bad mummy…
The thing I find astonishing is that everyone in the medical profession is so keen on growth scans, given that they’re so inaccurate – +/-10%, I understand. That’s a big variance on an 8lb baby!
I’ve also heard that bigger babies (not TOO big, but bigger) are easier to deliver because the weight on your cervix makes dilation quicker. Who knows?!
6lbs 9oz at 39+1. I was under consultant led care and the consultant was obsessed with my weight my whole pregnancy (5ft9in and size 8). They kept asking if I was eating properly, as I didn’t get a hint of a bump until 24 weeks. I only started looking pregnant at around 7.5 months.
I had growth scans every two weeks from my 20 week scan. They also wanted to induce me at 37 weeks because of his estimated size. I said no. Unless there was a real medical reason behind it.
I was a small baby at 6/6 and born at 42 weeks so knew this one wasn’t going to be big. He sits between the 9th & 25th percentile for weight and his height is over the 75th percentile.
The girl I shared a room with had an 8/10 baby and said she struggled to sit down. I’m glad he was no bigger but even being on the small side got a second degree tear as he was desperate to come out!
My bump was absolutely huge! I had so many people ask if I was expecting twins (which got a little irritating after a while) but bump measured level with the weeks so I wasn’t that worried. I was convinced I’d be having a 10lb baby but Baby Girl came out at 7lb 6oz but very long and massive feet. Even the midwives were laughing at how big her feet were! Dad has size 12 feet so we know she’s not the milkman’s child. :p Thankfully she’s grown into them 4 months later.
I’m glad to hear all the stories above about how you just can’t tell… First time round my bump was quite compact (though I did get a range of comments on it saying it was small and big…) and my baby was 6lb 11oz at 40 weeks exactly. This time I showed a lot quicker and my bump is bigger and I’ve had all ‘are you sure it’s not twins?!’ comments and people telling me it must be a boy (?!) and it’ll be a big baby which is scaring me a bit ? I think people always have something to say about your bump either way – in my first pregnancy sooo many people told me it was clearly a boy but out popped a girl so this time I’m trying to take all the comments with a pinch of salt! x
4lb 13 at 38 weeks due to IUGR & placenta failure 🙁 there were no clues she was so small until labour started & we needed an emergeny csection as they didn’t think she would have made it out otherwise! She was normal length and head but had absolutely no fat! I heard so often from old ladies that they thought I was so big I must have been carrying twins, although I really wasn’t that big. Will need careful monitoring for any future pregnancies to ensure if it happens again, it is detected & managed as it could have easily been a different story for us. She is nearly 2, & still a little slight compared to her peers but is taller than average!
My bump measured perfectly each time but (due to pre eclampsia) I had a few late scans. Her birth weight was estimated at 6lb 6oz ish but she arrived weighing 4lb 7oz at 36+6 !
At 3 months she’s now catching up with her peers slowly but steadily and is mightily strong! Moral of the story – scans are an *estimate* and sometimes you’re carrying a ton more fluid that you thought you were(!)
I was one of those getting comments on how small my bump was… I found it really quite difficult to know what to say to this! Err sorry?!
I moved house and area late in preganacy and the new midwives sent me for a growth scan at 36 weeks which said she was already 7lb 4 at that point…however when Annabel made her appearance bang on 39 weeks she was a petite 6lb 7oz! They were still measuring my bump and looking confused at my notes when I went into the birth centre at 4cm dilated which was slightly off-putting!
She’s long but still teeny in weight at 12 weeks, we’ve just hit 10lb and sitting between 2nd and 9th centile. I’m 5ft 8 and all long legs and arms though so pretty sure she’s going to end up like me!
Wow, so interesting reading everyone’s experiences with their babies.
When I was in labour, the midwife said ‘have you had a growth scan? You have a big baby in there’. Errrrrr no and why are you telling me this NOW!!
Along came Noah weighing 9lbs 9ozs 🙂
Baby weight snap, Katie! I had not really put much thought into weight but the first inkling I got on size was when my water broke and my rather big bump didn’t shrink at all – my midwife said “hmm I think this bump is all baby!” And so it was. He’s by far the biggest in my NCT group and has been the first to do things like roll over and hold his head up, I think just coz of his core strength. Not that it matters, my husband didn’t bother walking till he was 18 months, I think he liked being carried everywhere! He’s good at walking now though so who cares when they do it. 😉
Funnily enough my dad recently found my baby growth chart and, at 20 weeks, I was 6.5kg, exactly two kilos lighter than my 8.5kg son who is 20 weeks on Monday. 😉
I was told from a growth scan to expect 10lb plus. She was born at 40+5 at 8lb 13oz. Another friend was told the same and her little girl was 6lb 2oz! They had to do a emergency clothes shop as had bought bigger based on the scan xxx
My 2nd was 9lbs 9 and I had no pain relief due to a speedy labour and very busy maternity ward. But weirdly it hurt less than delivering her 7lb 15 sister with all sorts of pain relief! Apparently weight can help with delivery as someone has mentioned before. Due to gravity I believe. She’s tall and slim rather than chubby, she was so long at birth that they couldn’t even plot her on the centile chart. Clearly takes after her 6’6″ daddy!
My bump was very average both times and I found it funny that some people told me I was huge and some that I was tiny. It’s like no one can ever say it’s just normal size! Also found it amusing when people congratulated me for my neat bump as though I had anything to do with it!
Bertie was a tinker – 6lb 7oz at 41 weeks. I had been so poorly during pregnancy that they had warned me she was going to be small. We had growth scans bi weekly and blood tests every 3 days and so I was super impressed I had got her to that weight! It was such a worry during pregnancy though, and I felt really bad that I hadn’t been able to even “do pregnancy right”. People are so open on commenting how big or small a bump is aren’t they?! She’s still on the 9th centile for weight now, and she’s 2.
My daughter was an unexpected 9Ib 13oz! (Natural delivery – ouch!) She wasn’t one of those really chubby newborns though, she was just really long with really long legs! She still is all leg (lucky thing!) and has always measured just above average in height. My bump always measured right and was never told I was too big or small. I was about a week over due though. She ended up in the neonatal ward due to an infection and looked ENORMOUS compared to all the tiny premature babies in there! 🙂
Pregnant with first so no birth weight to report yet.
I’m 25 weeks and only just popped out (skinny jeans still fitted until last week). Everyone keeps telling me how tiny I am but I haven’t had my bump ‘measured’ by anyone I’ve seen. When do they start doing this….??
Hoping it is just a result of me being tall and having a bit of extra legroom.
Sarah I think they start measuring your bump after 26 weeks (they did for me anyway) so it’ll probably be done on your next midwife visit! They plot it on a graph that is tailored to your weight and height I believe and my midwife says it’s more about checking that you are growing steadily and consistently rather than worrying too much about if it’s big or small!
My son’s official birth weight was recorded as 11lb13oz! I say official as on day 3 when he was weighed he had lost a considerable amount of weight – too much for a ‘healthy’ baby. After numerous weigh ins over the following week we now estimate that he probably weighed more like 10lb8oz but sadly we will never know! I didn’t have any growth scans, measured fine for my dates and as my daughter was only 7lb14oz and I looked bigger with her I wasn’t expecting a whopper. Needless to say he ended up getting hoovered out the sunroof rather than trying his luck out the natural exit (thank god). I think everyone is right in that sometimes you just can’t tell.
I had gestational diabetes with both my pregnancies so mine were both pretty big boys. My eldest was 9lb and my youngest 9lb 2oz. Around the time I had my eldest there was a baby that had been born weighing a stone, doing the rounds on the news and social media. I had the fear that my baby would come out like that! He didn’t but he did have that ‘look’ of a baby to a mum with GD (ie. mega chubby) but that soon dropped and he has remained on the lower centiles ever since (he’s 3 now). Same with my youngest.
Alexandra was 9lb 15oz and I was apparently measuring bang on bump size for each measurement. I’m only 5’2 and I looked bloody huge so I’ve got no idea how I wasn’t measuring big. My investigation report after her death revealed that I should’ve been sent for a grown scan 39-40 weeks but midwife didn’t request it as I was low risk and she thought it would be refused/ignored as had happened to her in the past.
Current midwife says tape measurements tend to pick up small but by big babies. Personally I think more research needs to be done as clearly big babies can get in as much danger as small babies.
Consultant says tape measurements is like trying to measure a car by the size of the garage! So basically not an exact science!
I’ve never been pregnant (hopefully soon though!), but I have always found it strange that a birth announcement includes the baby’s weight. There is so much in the media these days about body image that it seems a bit old fashioned that one of the first things that is announced to the world is the weight of the new arrival. Surely your family and friends just need to know the baby’s name and that’s he/she is healthy? Especially given that most of the comments above seem to show that there is no link between the size/weight anyway! I realise my opinion might change once I’ve actually been through 9 months of pregnancy though!
5lb 7oz and 3lb exactly. Both still hurt coming out not going to lie!
How I wish I had read this post just last week. Throughout my pregnancy I’ve been told by the world and his wife that I’m tiny for my gestation etc etc.. I was a bit chuffed as I thought I must carry the bump well as I’m quite tall. Then the MW measurements of my bump were off the chart big-equivalent to 180th centile or something ridiculous. So we just laughed along.. They must be wrong.. Better a big baby than off the chart small… Plus I always thought I’d have to birth a baby elephant as I was 10lb 5 at 40+3 and my sisters both more than 9 and a half pounds (my mum is 5’5).
Come to my 31/40 appointment and my bump measured on the 4th centile. I burst in to tears there and then, the MW tried to reassure me the measurements were very subjective but I just saw the chart and the line going in completely the wrong way. Thankfully only had to wait two days for a growth scan and of course all fine. Above average in every measurement.
My hospital actually gave me a feedback form to fill as part of an audit they’re running-the questions were worded in a way that makes me think they’re trying to do away with the measuring and get funding for a routine third scan which would be great I think.
My baby girl was born weighing 8lb 7 at 41 + 6, and after an induction. 2 weeks before her due date I went in for a scan as they were worried about her position, and the midwife said my enormous bump was all water and she was sure my baby would be about 6 something. At 5 foot, and normally a size 6 I was impressed at my little girls weight (and huge feet) and very relieved after a long labour which, wasn’t progressing and distressing my little girl that they finally went for the safer option of a C-Section.