Tall parents = bigger baby?

girlintheworld · April 2010

My husband is a big guy...he's 6'4" and he pretty much looks like a linebacker (which I love about him!) :-) I keep getting comments about how big the baby will be because of DH's size and because I'm 5'8" myself. It makes me wonder...

Have you found that taller people have bigger babies?

JayandJack · April 2010

I'm the smallest in my family at 6ft. Both my parents were 6'2" and my grandparents are 6'4 and 6'2.Every cousin including the girls are 6'4 and taller including my closest boy cousin being 6'9.

I was also a 12lb baby and 24 inches long and average among the babies.

I think it's defiantly a trait of taller women to have bigger/longer babies if the tall gene runs in their family.

DH is 6ft maybe 6'1 so I know ours will be large and long. I'm seriously praying for a 9lbs baby.

BlondiePhD · April 2010

It's a tough call. I want to say yes, although my family is dutch and we are all tall (all my female cousins are >5'10 and all my male cousins are >6'2) but as far as I know none of them have had a baby over 9lb.

girlintheworld · April 2010

JayandJack:
I'm the smallest in my family at 6ft. Both my parents were 6'2" and my grandparents are 6'4 and 6'2.Every cousin including the girls are 6'4.
I was also a 12lb baby and 24 inches long.
I think it's defiantly a trait of taller women to have bigger/longer babies if the tall gene runs in their family.
DH is 6ft maybe 6'1 so I know ours will be large and long.

Wow, very interesting!! Your dog is beautiful btw!

CourtneyR2N · April 2010

I think there could be a correlation. Genes, and if the mom is bigger there is more space for the baby to grown.

My DH's uncle is like 6'6" and he was 14 something pounds when he was born (very scary). Of course DH's grandmother had all big babies 10 pounds plus. She wasn't a very big woman, maybe 5'6", but I think her DH (died long long ago) was on the 6 foot side.

gingin72 · April 2010

Well my DH is 6'7" and I'm 5'2' so I'm hoping we have a baby in the middle because I don't know how I can fit a big baby in me. Also all of his family are tall. His aunts last baby is now in kindergarden and get this he's already 4' tall. I'm scared.

sbbounds · April 2010

my dad is 6'4" and mom is 5'6". I'm 5'11" and was one month overdue (crazy, i know). I was born 7 lbs 11 oz and 23.5 inches long..so definitely long would make sense. but i wouldn't imagine necessarily disproportionately heavier than usual.

JayandJack · April 2010

girlintheworld:
JayandJack:
I'm the smallest in my family at 6ft. Both my parents were 6'2" and my grandparents are 6'4 and 6'2.Every cousin including the girls are 6'4.
I was also a 12lb baby and 24 inches long.
I think it's defiantly a trait of taller women to have bigger/longer babies if the tall gene runs in their family.
DH is 6ft maybe 6'1 so I know ours will be large and long.
Wow, very interesting!! Your dog is beautiful btw!

Thank you! He's my spoiled rotten angel Angel

OctoberBabyH · April 2010

JayandJack:
I'm the smallest in my family at 6ft. Both my parents were 6'2" and my grandparents are 6'4 and 6'2.Every cousin including the girls are 6'4.
I was also a 12lb baby and 24 inches long.
I think it's defiantly a trait of taller women to have bigger/longer babies if the tall gene runs in their family.
DH is 6ft maybe 6'1 so I know ours will be large and long.

I can relate. Also the smallest and I am 5'11'' and slender. DH is 6'1'' and he's a pretty big dude.

I was 9lb 9oz (so was he) and I was 24 inches as well. (He was 21)

When people hear this, they exclaim "Your poor mothers!" heehee Smile

I don't know if I'm necessarily "in for it." Just hope the baby is happy and healthy. (And if he or she is anything close to what we were at birth, then holy healthy!)

megnunn1 · April 2010

Both my husband and myself are tall. All the men on both sides of the family are 6 feet or taller. Our first son was really long, but he only weighed 6p12o. I think being tall may affect your baby's length, but I don't think it will make a big baby.

Kimmy1836 · April 2010

I don't think there is always a correlation.

Both of SO's parents are under 5'9 and he was 22 inches at birth.

Both of my parents were small and I was almost 10 lbs at birth.

Big parents doesn't always equal big baby/small parents doesn't always mean small baby.

MrserinJ · April 2010

Well, I am 6'1 and fairly thin and DH is 6'5 and average too. The smallest person on both sides of our family was my mom at 5'10. DS was 8 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches. He was large, but not THAT large. That being said, he looks like he is 4 now, and he is only 2 and a half! He towers over kids a year older than him.

I think it really depends. Your baby will probably be a bit bigger than average, but you never know. I was 6lbs10oz and so was DH, so its hard to tell.

STFWIFE · April 2010

DD's bio dad was 6'2-6'3 and I'm 5'7 and she is tiny to this day. She is almost 7 and weighs 42.2 lbs and let me tell you she is seriours about those .2lbs. She comes up to right under my boobs. She is the smallest out of all of her friends, and her BF is a little boy thats 5 and he is about the same size as her.

BlondiePhD · April 2010

JayandJack:
I'm the smallest in my family at 6ft. Both my parents were 6'2" and my grandparents are 6'4 and 6'2.Every cousin including the girls are 6'4 and taller including my closest boy cousin being 6'9.
I was also a 12lb baby and 24 inches long and average among the babies.
I think it's defiantly a trait of taller women to have bigger/longer babies if the tall gene runs in their family.
DH is 6ft maybe 6'1 so I know ours will be large and long. I'm seriously praying for a 9lbs baby.

I just took a quick look at your blog and died laughing when I came across the labor play list entry. Too funny!!!

preciousmetal · April 2010

DH and I are both pretty tall (I'm 5'9" and DH is 6'2"). DD is projected to be over 6 foot tall when she's fully grown. She was a pretty normal sized baby, though, 21" long.

MrsBNDO · April 2010

I'm 5'8" and my husband is 6'7". My son was 7 lbs, 5 ounces and 21 inches at birth - very average. Throughout his first year, he rode that 50% percentile curve in both height and weight like it was his job. But now? Little homie is in the 90% percentile and wearing 4T & some times 5T tops at a little over 2.5 years old. So anecdotally, I don't think tall parents automatically = tall babies, but they could definitely make tall children.

girlintheworld · April 2010

MrsBNDO:
I'm 5'8" and my husband is 6'7". My son was 7 lbs, 5 ounces and 21 inches at birth - very average. Throughout his first year, he rode that 50% percentile curve in both height and weight like it was his job. But now? Little homie is in the 90% percentile and wearing 4T & some times 5T tops at a little over 2.5 years old. So anecdotally, I don't think tall parents automatically = tall babies, but they could definitely make tall children.

Haha...little homie! Love it.

**Octoberbride09** · April 2010

I don't know about the baby being "bigger" per se but def a bit longer. Which obviously make make it a little bigger.

JayandJack · April 2010

BlondiePhD:
JayandJack:
I'm the smallest in my family at 6ft. Both my parents were 6'2" and my grandparents are 6'4 and 6'2.Every cousin including the girls are 6'4 and taller including my closest boy cousin being 6'9.
I was also a 12lb baby and 24 inches long and average among the babies.
I think it's defiantly a trait of taller women to have bigger/longer babies if the tall gene runs in their family.
DH is 6ft maybe 6'1 so I know ours will be large and long. I'm seriously praying for a 9lbs baby.
I just took a quick look at your blog and died laughing when I came across the labor play list entry. Too funny!!!

I'm seriously going to kill DH if he tries this. He keeps suggesting songs to put on it.

MrsBNDO · April 2010

Wink

HayleyandMark · April 2010

My husband is 6'4 and 'linebacker size' also! His ribcage is just massive! But I'm only 5'2 and petite. I'm a bit worried about the size of our baby especially since every one keeps saying he's going to be huge! I figure it can go either way with our size difference.

melzer14 · April 2010

I'm 5'10 and my boyfriend is 6'6...I am so annoyed with the "oh my god you guys are going to have a HUGE baby"

My Dr said that the height of the parents doesn't really have any correlation to how big the baby is....she told me to take my birth weight and his and average that out.

Guess either way we'll find out in July!

fire0513fly · April 2010

My husband is 6'4 and I am 5'9. Jack was 20 inches long and weighed 8lbs.6ounces. Relax ladies, maybe in the long run your child will be tall but, who knows they could take after your short grandmother/grandfather. Besides, women have been birthing babies for centuries, it is amazing what our bodies can do/accomodate.

Daisy22 · April 2010

My peri and OB both thing that it has more to do with the mom's birth weight then other factors. I'm 5'1, had a 9lb 12oz baby and I was 9 lb 7oz at birth. My mom is 5'8 and had two babies including myself over 9lbs. My grandmother is 4'11 and had 2 babies in the 9 1/2lb range then one that was 10lb 4oz. Dh's whole family has average 7-8lb babies.

Chickpea2010 · April 2010

My dad is 6'7" and my mom is 5'11" and both my brother and I were spot-on average birth weight.

Chrissymarie98 · April 2010

There may or may not be a correlation, but my DH is 6'4 and was a 10 pound baby and our baby at 20 weeks is measuring at 14 ounces when the average is between 9 and 12 ounces for this stage in the game.

He may even out along the process he may end up being a big baby, time shall tell...

OR.... I may end up delivering earlier than they expect which I kind of suspect.

I have a feeling our baby will be on the bigger side.

Bunny622 · April 2010

we are both real small and at my first u/s at 8 weeks the baby measured a few days small and had my second u/s today at 20 weeks and the baby measured about 2 weeks small. We were wondering if it's because we're both short, 5'3" and 5'7" and we were really tiny babies

ahpeach · April 2010

I think there is definitely a correlation. I'm 5'9, was born 2 weeks early, and was 8lbs5oz and 23in long. My DH is 6'4, was born 1 week early, and was 9lbs5oz and 26in long.

At our 21 week ultrasound our little boy was measuring 19oz, which the ultrasound tech told us was almost half a pound abover normal. She told us to prepare for a big boy!