A baby born in England last month tipped the scales at a whopping 15 pounds, 7 ounces—and it wasn’t a C-section. See more photos of the largest bundles of joy on record.
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Little baby George was so big—15 pounds, 7 ounces—that his complicated birth left him with just a 10 percent chance of surviving. But six weeks later, he’s recovering well. “He’s a little miracle—well, a big miracle, really,” his mother, Jade King, told the BBC. The first sign of trouble for King, who delivered him vaginally, was when George’s shoulders became stuck during birth, leaving him without oxygen for five minutes. Now, George's MRI results have come back normal and he is settling in nicely, wearing the clothes for a 3-to-6 month old that he's been wearing since he was born.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest baby to survive infancy was born in Italy in 1955and clocked in at a remarkable 22 pounds, 8 ounces. Oh baby!
Everything’s bigger in Texas, a claim that JaMichael Brown can back up. Delivered in 2011 to Janet Johnson and Michael Brown, little JaMichael tipped the scales at an astonishing 16 pounds, 1 ounce. “The Moose,” as his father affectionately calls him, was born with a full head of hair on his 15-inch head, has a 17-inch chest, and is 24 inches long—roughly the size of a typical 3- to 6-month old. Johnson, who suffered from gestational diabetes during the pregnancy, was told to expect a larger baby, perhaps between 12 and 13 pounds. But they still weren’t prepared for JaMichael's size. “A lot of the stuff we bought for him is too little,” Johnson told Ann Curry on the Today show. “So we have to exchange some things.”
It required two doctors to lift 14-pound, 2-ounce Richard Sault Jr., when he was delivered by C-section on Dec. 23, 2008. The 21-inch boy was the largest baby ever born at the Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, Calif. "We thought our first baby was a miracle, and now we have this little guy," Richard Sault Sr. told The Orange County Register, before correcting himself: "Guess he's not so little."
Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register / Newscom
Emily Maldonado of Salinas, Calif., was in labor for two days before giving birth via Caesarean to her son Matthew Anthony on May 9, 2011. "They took him out and the doctor started saying ‘damn,’” his exhausted mother told a local news station, "so they put him on the scale, 14 pounds, 3.6 ounces." Dr. Roberta Bruni, who works at the hospital’s neonatal unit shared in the disbelief. “There was an absolutely incredible number, so I thought they'd transposed the weight wrong,” she admitted. “Then I came in here and it wasn't a transposition error.”
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Thirty-nine-year-old Livia Muntianu of Romania gained so much weight during her pregnancy that she was convinced she was having twins. But it turned out that her 10th child, Luciana, was merely as heavy as two babies. Born on Aug. 29, 2009, Luciana clocked in at 15 pounds and 24 inches — the largest baby ever born in her country.
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When your mother is an actual Amazon—as in a member of Brazil’s Munduruku tribe—the odds are pretty good that you'll be born large. Indeed, two of Rosinete Cardoso de Souza’s previous nine children weighed more than 12 pounds at birth. But baby Gisela, born in December 2010, bested them all—she came into the world at an impressive 15 pounds, 6 ounces. and was, mercifully, delivered via C-section.
Like mother, like son. When Wendi Dolton of Rochester, Minn., was born, she weighed more than 10 pounds and claims doctors had to break her shoulders to deliver her. Her son, Axel LaVerne Dolton, however, made Mom look like a shrimp. Born on Nov. 23, 2009, Axel weighed a hefty 15 pounds, 6 ounces, but the truly scary part about the boy they call “Butterball” is that he was born three weeks premature.
On Jan. 19, 2005, Ademilton dos Santos became the largest baby ever born in Brazil when he entered the world at a wince-worthy 17 pounds. While Francisca Ramos dos Santos’s previous four children were all normal weight at birth, doctors believe Ademilton’s tremendous size was a result of his mother’s diabetes. They also very cleverly nicknamed the boy “giant baby.”
Eleoi Correa, Agencia Estado / AP Photo
Not all little bruisers are boys. On Sept. 17, 2007, 42-year-old Tatiana Khalina of Siberia got a huge of bundle of joy when her daughter Nadia was born via C-section at 17 pounds, 1 ounce. All of Khalina’s previous children weighed more than 11 pounds at birth, but Nadia’s birth weight still came as a shock. “What did the father say?” Nadia told reporters afterward. “He couldn't say a thing, he just stood there blinking. I ate everything. We don't have the money for special foods so I just ate potatoes, noodles, and tomatoes."
Andrey Kasprishin, Reuters / Landov
The largest baby born in recent years came into the world on Sept. 24, 2009. Weighing a whopping 19 pounds, 2 ounces, Akbar Risuddin more than lived up to his name, which means “big” or “great” in Indonesian. And yet Akbar is not even close to the heaviest baby ever born, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1879, Anna Bates of Canada gave birth to a 23-pound, 12-ounce baby who died after 11 hours. The largest baby who survived was born in Aversa, Italy, in 1955: 22 pounds, 8 ounces.
Andi Anshari / AP Photo
