Forth Valley mums more likely to have 'super sized' babies weighing more than 8lb 13oz

The figures were revealed in a national analysis of births across the UK.

It showed in the year to March 2021, there were 339 babies born within the NHS Forth Valley area weighing 8lb 13oz or 4kg or more – that’s the equivalent of four bags of sugar.

Those over this weight are considered unusually large – known by the medical term foetal macrosomia.

Babies this size can lead to complications during labour, and mothers are more likely to need a caesarian section.

A range of factors can influence the likelihood of having an unusually large baby, including a mother’s weight and age, genetics, gestational diabetes, and a baby being overdue.

Around one in seven babies born in Scotland in the year to March 2021 – 13.3 per cent – had macrosomia, according to Public Health Scotland (PHS) figures.

In Forth Valley, the numbers showed 13.8 per cent of the 2490 babies born during this period weighed more than 4kg.

The figures vary around the country with women living in Orkney and Shetland almost twice as likely to have big babies – 24.4 per cent and 26.2 per cent respectively.

In Scotland babies from Dumfries and Galloway were the next heaviest, with 16.2 per cent at least four kilograms, followed by those in Tayside (14.9 per cent) and the Western Isles (14.8 per cent).

Shetland’s figure was the highest for any local area in the UK.