A 27-year-old woman recently gave birth to a 13lb, 10oz baby in Shanghai, weighing almost twice as much as the average Chinese baby and more than six bags of sugar, Sky News reports.
"I drink one glass of milk [and] eat an egg every day. That's a must since I became pregnant. I also ate a lot of fruit," the new mother told Chinese state television, while a relative added that during her pregnancy, she consumed "soup with chicken, pigeon and fish [which] is normal for an expectant mother, as well as seafood including shrimp and fish."
Doctors at the hospital said that the mother gained weight very quickly while pregnant, eating more than usual and spending most of her time in bed. While the mother and her child's names were not given to the media, they are said to be in good health, though it is unclear whether or not the baby was born naturally or via cesarean section.
"Obesity may affect the baby's health in the future," Xu Chang'en, associate chief physician of the obstetrics department of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, told a local station. "Rates of obesity and diabetes are obviously higher for an adolescent or an adult who was born overweight."
The 13-pound baby may be a shock to many, though it is not China or the world's biggest newborn. Chun Chun, from Xinxiang city in Henan Province, was born 15lbs 8oz in 2012, while the title of the biggest newborn ever goes to an infant born in Canada in 1879 at 23lbs, 12oz, who died just 11 hours after birth. His parents were both over seven feet tall and had gigantism, according to the Guinness World Records.
In the U.S. this year, Joel Brandon Jr. was born in May at 14 pounds even, delivered by cesarean section Sarah Brandon at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, UT.
