Sonny Ayres is going home. The 14-pound baby boy made headlines when he was delivered at Ontario’s Cambridge Memorial Hospital. The newborn shocked everyone when his birth weight was as much as the average 3-month-old.
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think he’d be that big,” the proud father, Chance Ayres, told “Good Morning America.”
But the Ayres family is no stranger to larger-than-average babies. They have four other children, and two were also much larger than the average newborn. Daughter Marigold’s birth weight was 13 pounds, 14 ounces, and son Lucky’s was 13 pounds, 11 ounces.
MORE: Indiana mom gives birth to 16-pound baby boy
Sonny was delivered via cesarean on Oct. 23, over a week before his due date of Oct. 31. His official weight was 14 pounds, eight ounces.
“Chance is very tall. He’s 6 [feet], 2 [inches]. My dad’s tall, so it runs in the family,” mom Britteney Ayres told “GMA.”
The Birthing Unit of Cambridge Memorial Hospital shared the news on the hospital’s Facebook page:
The American Pregnancy Association says most full-term newborns will weigh between 6 and 9 pounds. And, according to research collected by pediatric endocrinologists and published in the
“Overall there is strong evidence that genetic factors play a significant role in determining birth size,” the study authors write in their report. “Epidemiological studies estimate that environmental influences account for about 25% birth weight variance and genetic influences account for 38–80% birth weight variance.”
In an email to “GMA,” the doctor who delivered Sonny said that he was the biggest baby to be born at the hospital since it started its database in 2010, and the biggest baby the doctor had ever personally delivered.
Sonny is now home in Cambridge, Ontario, with his siblings — who range in age from 1.5 to 6 — and enjoying being the biggest little guy in the family.
“I’m taking it day by day but I’m just really happy to be home and have a good support system,” the mom told “GMA.”
Any products or services mentioned above were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
