A newborn girl, tipping the scales at five kilogrammes, has become a favourite with the doctors and nursing staff at Cama hospital.
Doctors said she is by far one of the heaviest babies to be born in Mumbai. “Earlier, babies weighing over 4kg have been delivered here, but none weighing 5kg,” said Dr Rajashri Katke-Sonkawde, medical superintendent.
The average weight of a newborn is 2.5kg and length 50cm. However, this baby, born to Govandi residents Zulekha Khan, 24, and Mohammed Salaam, 26, on February 19, is 60-cm-long.
“She is barely 10 days old, but is already wearing clothes of a 6-month-old. She is also extremely intelligent and rapidly responds to verbal commands. But because she is so big, I have to breast-feed her every two hours,” said Zulekha. Both baby and mother will be discharged on Saturday.
Dr Katke-Sonkawde went on to add that the mother had been coming to the hospital regularly for checkups since the fourth month of pregnancy. “In the last month, we expected the baby to weight close to four kilos; however, her weight has surprised us,” she added.
Babies weighing above 4kg are said to be large for gestational age (LGA), which means they grow quickly in the womb. “Although this is a case of LGA, the mother and child are both healthy. Usually, mothers who deliver heavy babies suffer from diabetes, which leads to a swollen appearance in the baby,” said Katke-Sonkawde.
