
If, prior to this week, I was ever on the fence about having children, then the 19-pound baby born in Indonesia recently sealed the deal and made that quandary a definitive no. Akbar Risuddin’s extraordinary size was likely caused by his mother having gestational diabetes, but—and this is going to keep me awake at night—he’s still shy of the world record (set by a 23-pound baby in 1879). Doctors concluded that the mother’s diabetes likely caused the child to receive too much glucose in the womb, resulting in his abnormal size upon delivery—but luckily, both mother and son are in good health. In the understatement of the year, Dr. Binsar Sitanggang told Agence France-Presse, “This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him out of his mum’s womb.” The 19.2-pound, 2-foot-long child was delivered via Caesarean section, thus preventing the vagina from looking like the post battlefield scene in Saving Private Ryan.
Akbar was born at a birth weight equivalent to that of a year-old toddler, and in a photo taken of the baby alongside a regular birth-weight newborn, it appeared that if Akbar felt like it, he could probably succeed at eating his peer. “I'm very happy that my baby and his mother are in good health,” said father Muhammad Hasanuddin. “I hope I can afford to feed the baby enough, because he needs more milk than other babies.” A cow might be a good investment. “He’s got a strong appetite, it’s almost nonstop feeding,” Dr. Sitanggang confirmed. The good news? It’s a safe bet that a kid that resembles a linebacker by age four isn’t going to be shoved into lockers or called a sissy.