Russia's newly born heaviest baby faces serious health problems

Moscow, Sep 28 (UNI) Russia's heaviest baby Nadya born to a Siberian woman in Altai region is facing serious health problems.

''The baby is under the special care of the local health department,'' the region's chief pediatrician Galina Kagirova said today.

Nadya is the 12th child of her mother Tatyana Barabanova (43). She was delivered by caesarian section in a local maternity hospital in Altai region on September 17, joining eight sisters and three brothers. Little Nadya weighed in at a massive 7.75 kg.

Kagirova said that large babies are rarely born without health problems and Nadya was no exception.

Several days after the birth, Nadya was transferred to a children's hospital in Barnaul, the capital of the Altai region.

Barabanova told RIA Novosti news agency she was not surprised by the girl's record weight, as the first of her 11 children had weighed more than five kg at birth, and the others ''beat the records set by their brothers and sisters.'' The average weight for healthy newborn babies is around 3.2 kg, according to World Health Organisation figures.

According to the Guinness Book of Records the heaviest baby ever, who weighed 13.26 kg, was born in 1939 in Illinois, US, but died several hours later of respiratory problems.

The heaviest surviving newborn was a 10.2 kg boy, born in 1955 in Italy.

UNI