Brazilian Woman Gives Birth to a 16-Pound Baby Boy

A Brazilian woman named Cleidiane Santos dos Santos birthed a 16-pound baby she named Angerson. A mother of five, Santos previously birthed a baby weighing nearly 9 pounds. Angerson is officially the heaviest baby born in Amazonas, the Brazilian state where Santos lives.

Big babies come with big risks, but Angerson and his mom are okay

Giving birth to a baby that size poses significant health risks to both mother and child. Ultimately, however, the birth was a success. Santos and her new son are healthy and in stable condition following the birth.

In an interview with El Globo, Santos said, “I want to thank the team at Hospital Padre Colombo, who have been giving me strength and treating me very well, since I arrived here. If it weren’t for them, I don’t know what would have become of me. So, I thank each one.”

An OBGYN at Hospital Padre Colombo, where Angerson was born, named Dr. Artemisia Pessoa said, “We are just feeling joy, satisfaction and gratitude for everything having worked out in this case.” Oftentimes, babies of Angerson’s size suffer from breathing issues and high blood sugar, making their survival more precarious than babies of normal weight.

Macrosomia is the reason behind the 16-pound bundle of joy

Big babies are a result of something called Macrosomia, a potentially deadly complication that forces mothers to give birth to oversized newborns.

There are a number of factors that could contribute to Macrosomia. Mothers over 35 with high blood sugar are more likely to develop Macrosomia. Additionally, having a big baby increases a mother’s risk for Macrosomia in subsequent births.

Being overweight before pregnancy and gaining a significant amount of weight during pregnancy makes Macrosomia more likely. Interestingly, Latinas are more likely to develop Macrosomia during pregnancy. Giving birth to a boy also increases its odds.

Approximately 3 to 15 percent of babies are macrosomic, meaning they weigh more than 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

According to Today, the largest baby to survive infancy was born in 1955 and weighed 22 pounds, 8 ounces. As recently as 2019, a woman named Joy Buckley birthed a baby girl weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces. “I felt like I had been hit by two tractor-trailers simultaneously,” she said in an interview with The Washington Post.