Cardiff parents stunned after mum gives birth to 12lb baby

A first-time mother from Cardiff has given birth to a baby so heavy that midwives initially blamed the weight reading on faulty scales.

Baby boy Zack Nelms, who tipped the scales at 12lb, was born almost double the weight of an average child.

Proud mum Rhian James, 27, said: "The midwife took Zack off the scales and reset them and tried again but they still showed 12lb.

"I was in disbelief and so were the midwives."

The average weight in Britain is 7lb 8oz for a newborn boy and 7lb 4oz for a newborn girl.It's believed Zack takes after his strapping father Anthony, 28, who is 6ft 6ins tall.

Rhian and Anthony, from Llandaff, found out they were expecting a boy at their 20-week scan - but had no indication of his future size.

Support worker Rhian added: "No-one was expecting him to be so big."When they measured me I was a normal size and they were expecting an average-sized baby."

Zack was born naturally on January 19th at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff after Rhian was induced.

"As I was wheeled from the delivery suite to the ward people kept stopping me and saying they could not believe I had given birth naturally," Rhian said.

"Doctors and nurses came to visit from all over the hospital asking to see the 12lb baby."

Rhian said she initially struggled to keep up with Zack's enormous appetite and also had to buy new baby clothes as he had already outgrown the baby grows bought in advance.

She added: "I am dreading the cost of shoes because he already has huge big toes. Anthony has size 15 feet and struggles to get shoes to fit."

Despite a difficult labour, Rhian said she wouldn't rule out having another baby.

She joked: "People say your second baby is often bigger but I don't believe I could have a baby bigger than 12lb!"

Records show that the biggest baby born naturally in Britain was George King who was delivered at the Gloucester Royal Infirmary in February 2013 weighing 15lb 7oz.