In a rare incident, a six-kg baby boy was born on Saturday morning at Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad.
As per media report, Shabana Begum, 29, who was diagnosed as diabetic in the first two months of pregnancy gave birth to this stout baby. It was the third baby for Shabana and Mohammed Wasim whose previous two children, a boy and a girl, were born with normal weight.
Dr M. Satyavathi, senior gynecologist, told media, “Gestational diabetes is the major cause for such a heavyweight baby. Due to the increased blood sugar levels of the mother the child’s weight in the womb increased. Research has shown that mothers with glucose intolerance have larger incidence of heavyweight babies. How the weight of the foetus can be controlled without affecting its growth is a big challenge.”
Two days ago, Shabana was on insulin therapy and sugar management at the Osmania General Hospital . After regular screening was carried out the team of doctors expected the baby to be around 5 kg.
It was then decided that Shabana would require a C-section because of the growing weight of the baby.
After the baby was born, the doctors weighed him in a manual weighing machine and found him to be 6 kg.
Doctors said both the mother and baby are healthy and are kept under observation.
The sheer weight of the child gives the impression that he may require more food but doctors said that will not be the case.
“Growth of the child now will be like any other normal baby. In the womb, the weight increased due to the mother’s high glucose levels. It will not be the same outside,” senior doctor at the hospital told media.
Standard weight of Indian newborns is between 2.5 to 3.5 kg, and diabetic mothers give birth to babies around four-kg, doctors said. “But, this is a rare incident,” doctors added.
