Birth weight correlation with baby gender?

[Nelle]

HotI, I'm not sure what your reasons are for being nervous, but my girl was my biggest at 4.77kg (10lb 8oz) and she did no damage coming out, even though it was quick and she had her hand against her face. I put it down to it being the first time I was 'coached' during pushing, being directed and encouraged to slow down and breathe. If that's one of your concerns, maybe asking for guidance to pant rather than heave-ho (like I did with the boys) might be worth considering.

(The boys were 9lb 4oz and then 7lb 9oz and pretty different, the heavier being long and skinny and the lighter being short and fat. Babygirl was the first to go 'over' though, by 4 days. The boys were 1 or 2 days before EDD.)

[HotI]

How much do babies actually grow in the last week or two (e.g. from 40 to 41 weeks or 39 to 41 weeks)?

HotI, I'm not sure what your reasons are for being nervous, but my girl was my biggest at 4.77kg (10lb 8oz) and she did no damage coming out, even though it was quick and she had her hand against her face. I put it down to it being the first time I was 'coached' during pushing, being directed and encouraged to slow down and breathe. If that's one of your concerns, maybe asking for guidance to pant rather than heave-ho (like I did with the boys) might be worth considering.

It's not just for birth that i would prefer a smaller baby, my tummy muscles are quite damaged from previous pregnancies, and holding a bigger baby in is both more difficult and can lead to more damage. DS was bigger than your girl and i birthed in water. My pelvis opening to let him through hurt more than when he came out. I am not into coached pushing, but talking through with my midwife during my pregnancy allowed me to just breathe him out. I just hope that i can do that again, no matter how big baby is.

[Bloom]

One of the issues with bigger babies can be shoulder dystocia. My DD 4.9kg had a mild/moderate issue with this. No assistance was needed in the end but it was a bit panic-y right there at the end. I had a natural labour with midwife led care (as had been my two previous births).

Side note: apparently my DD's placenta was huge and very healthy contributing to a big baby.

[HotI]

Side note: apparently my DD's placenta was huge and very healthy contributing to a big baby.

Interesting, DS had a huge placenta too.

[Dansta]

Ive had two boys...
Dj was 7lb15oz - feb 7th had a noice hot summer. 11 days late
Vic was 9lb6.5oz June 30th fatty boomba in the middle of winter. same-ish diet (less maccas banana bread and KFC pop corn chicken with vic)

[Cricket]

I think genetics play a pretty big role. My babies have been different weights, but all relatively small, regardless of how much weight I gained, or how far along I was when they were born (all between 38 and 40+1, although my 38 weeker is my smallest one, so that does have some impact for sure.)
A friend of mine had one boy who was huge at birth - big head and shoulders, shoulder dystocia, etc. Her girls were smaller, and she thought it was a boy/girl thing. But then, her second son was much more petite. One boy (and the girls) took after her side, the other took after his father. It can be really hard to predict and/or control!

As far as your tummy muscles go, statistically speaking, anyone who has had 2 babies will have some degree of muscle separation, and that can make your back and belly sore. If you're in pain, or worried about that starting, get a good belly support. I have a Blanqi pregnancy support tank that I've worn daily from about 12 or 14 weeks, and it has made a BIG difference, but I'm sure there are lots of good options you could look into. Exercise to strengthen your other muscles, and wear good shoes to help your back and hips out.
Hope that helps!

[Santosha]

If you google 'bump to baby diet' there's a website that provides the basic info about GI and pregnancy and details of the associated book which I borrowed from my local library. Well worth a read IMO.

[HotI]

My diet is pretty low GI naturally, but through links from the site Santosha recommended i found the info below, so worth keeping on eye on it.

An Australian study of over 60 healthy, pregnant women who were assigned to
either a low GI diet, or a conventional healthy, high fibre diet for the 2nd and
3rd trimesters of pregnancy found that infants born to the women following
the low GI diet were significantly lighter, and had a lower percentage of body fat,
compared with the babies of mothers following the conventional diet. More
importantly, they were 10 times less likely to deliver a large baby (greater than the
90th percentile), suggesting that a low GI diet could also reduce the chances of
childhood obesity.

[Cricket]

That does actually concern me a little. I wouldn't want to deliver a baby with a big head and shoulders, (OUCH!) but a baby should have a good amount of body fat! They can't shiver to stay warm, and their brains are still developing. They need some fat.

Also, is there any proven relationship between birth weight and childhood obesity? I have to think that diet and lifestyle are going to be the biggest factors in determining whether your child is obese. If you give them a low GI diet in later childhood, I imagine they will be a healthy weight, but I don't think that a strictly low GI diet is healthy for an infant/toddler, with their short little bowels, or that simply eating low GI in pregnancy and having a lower birth weight baby will determine whether he/she is obese in childhood.

[Trillian]

Side note: apparently my DD's placenta was huge and very healthy contributing to a big baby.

My 'big' baby's placenta was large too. HotI, no matter what size the baby ends up being, any pregnancy is going to put strain on your stomach muscles and you might find that even with a small baby, you still suffer issues because the damage has already been done so to speak. So you may need to get one of those support girdle things to wear during this pregnancy.

[Santosha]

Sorry, chaos here so have not read all replies... may have been said. My midwife tells me there is increasing evidence around maternal diet and baby weight in that high GI diets tend to produce big (chubby) babies. A super low GI diet will not creat an underweight baby... will just prevent bub from getting big peaks in blood sugars which is converted to fat.

Low GI diets are also seeming to correlate with (she tells me... have not read the research myself, but i do trust this woman) spontaneous onset of labour -as in high fluctuations in blood sugar may prevent or delay labour and increase risk of induction - and more 'efficient', uncomplicated labours.

[peanutter]

We were told up to 500gm p/week from 38 weeks.