My baby was bigger than a 10 person Christmas turkey – people think I’m having twins
MEET the mum with three children born with a combined weight of 31lb 7oz – one of whom weighed more than mum and her twin brother combined when they were born.
Sarah Richards, 34, welcomed her first child, Freddie, on May 6, 2008, weighing 10 lbs.
Eight years later, on January 21, 2016, Sarah gave birth to her second, Sofia, who was born weighing a whopping 5.2kg – bigger than a 10-person Christmas turkey.
Finally, on April 26, 2021, Sarah and her husband welcomed Lacey-Jane – who gave Sofia a run for her money at 4.7kg (10lbs 6oz).
The average birth weight for babies in Britain is around 3.4kg for boys and 3.3kg for girls.
During all three pregnancies, Sarah was told by people that she was looking much further ahead in her pregnancy, with many wondering if she would be having twins.
With Freddie, she was told by people at the hospital that her newborn looked like he was three months old.
Thanks to their fat sizes, all three babies were also wearing clothes for children between 3 and 6 years old just a few months after birth.
Sarah, a pediatrician from Manchester, said: “I’m a twin myself and Sofia’s birth weight was more than my twin sister and I combined.
“The whole time people thought I was much further along and with Lacey-Jane people thought I was carrying twins.
“I bought the first size of diapers from Sofia and she immediately had to switch to larger sizes.
“And because Freddie was big, we just bought size 0-3 diapers to prepare.
‘We showed them pictures from when they were born – we call Sofia our little sumo wrestler.
“All three of them are now very thin. When people hear how much they weighed at birth, they are amazed at what they look like now.”
Sarah believes the reason behind their weight is their father’s birth weight.
She said: ‘Nobody could believe how big they were.
“Their father weighed over 9 pounds when he was born.
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“With Freddie I was only 16 and it was a very simple pregnancy and he ended up being born early by emergency caesarean section.
“You could tell he would be on the bigger side, but not even 10 pounds!
“Again, with Sofia there were no complications, but they could tell early on that she was big.
“I was tested for diabetes but the result came back negative so we planned a caesarean section and they estimated her weight was the same as Freddie’s so when she came in at 4.5kg it was quite a shock.
“Lacey-Jane, again there wasn’t much illness, but I had extra fluid.
‘She too was big from the start.
“At that time I had a diabetes diagnosis, so they think they missed it with Sofia.
“Lacey-Jane was born six weeks prematurely, she grew too big – in three days they think she grew about a kilo and a half.”