Macrosomia

Im not pregnant, however I've been wondering... Does having a previous macrosomic baby automatically place you in the high risk category? Does having a macrosomic baby previously automatically increase your chances of having another large baby?

If I ever were to go again I would like to try for a VBAC, however I think having a large baby may be another argument that I would have to face. Not that its an issue, but just pondering.

Has anyone had a large baby then gone on to have a baby that is "average"? Did you have to argue with care givers to treat you as an "average" pregnancy?

Again, thanks. Just pondering...

It probably depends on your carer. Not everyone worries about bigger babies. What classes as macrosomic?

was the baby a large baby or macrosomic?
if you had a macrosomic baby before you are likely to be encouraged to have multiple Glucose tests (tolerance and challenge) and measured and scanned regularly.. IF you are in a system that is scared of babies who are macrosomic.
If you had a large baby which is becoming "normal" due to many of us being well fed there may still be some talk of the same as above.
either way you can decide if you want them or not. just as you choose a care provider who is going to be with you no matter what your decision is, with out scaring you into xyz.

This just got me thinking what is normal? What is a normal sized baby?

Well, according to a quick google search the average is 3.4kg and macrosomic is anything over 4.5kg. I don't know how up to date these figures are, mind you.

Macrosomic is any baby born over 4.5kg.

I'd say average would be about 3.6kg.

You could check out the new Mother and Baby research and it would tell you the average.

what does macrosomic mean? as in is it just a bigger than average baby?

Baby was born at over 5kg with no known cause :o

Thanks for that post glorious, that was very helpful :)

I don't have any text books at hand but I'm pretty sure Macrosmic is defined as baby who is large for gestational age.

BC, a BB homebirth mumma gave birth to her almost 5kg little man earlier this year drug-free, in the water after a fast labour (no problems or tearing). Her first bub was not large but she had a very traumatic birth in hospital.

Your care providers can make all the difference.

I had 3.8, 4.8, then 4.3kg babies. In that order. Yes I did have issues with the hospital pushing certain things based on history but everything worked out ok for me.

As a cultural thing we will have to adjust to seeing larger and larger babies as we are getting better at eating well.. although larger babies is not from eating junkfood, in fact it is opposite the more junk the more likely you will have a small for gestational age or IUGR babe.
recently i went to an asian country where if they expect your baby is over 3.5kg (our normal size) you are expected to have a cs.
happy to chat more about specific issues if you want :)

I naturally birthed 2.9kg, 3.6kg (both born just prior to EDD) and 4.5kg (born 41w6d). TBH, there really wasn't much difference in any of my births ... I birthed DS3 (4.5kg) on my knees which was brilliant, and I think was the "right fit" to birth a large bub. If anything, my third bub was a much, much quicker delivery than my other two ... though none of my deliveries were long and arduous. I had the same (minor) tear in the same place with all three.

This doesn't really address your original question, but no one raised any red flags with my being almost two weeks overdue with a good sized bub on board. Had I had gestational diabetes again (I did with DS1), then maybe a different scenario. Mind you, I would've knocked back any talk of "dealing" with a large baby purely because I birthed easily before, and I knew my body could do it again.