Such a big baby... but mine's bigger!

Harvey Whybrow-Parker was born a heavyweight at 13lb 4oz but Samuel Owen Whitehead nearly broke the scale when he weighed in at a whopping 13lb 8oz.

Harvey astonished Queen's Park Hospital midwives when he was born by caesarian section to Alison Whybrow-Parker, of Woodlands Drive, Clayton-le-Moors.

His astonished mum's story was featured on television news.

But mum Anna-Marie Whitehead, of Bridgemill, Blackburn, has claimed the record for her son Samuel, born naturally at the same Blackburn hospital five months earlier.

She said: "I told the doctor I'd marry him if he'd give me an epidural but in the end I didn't have one.

"Before the birth I was told he'd only be about 10lb.

"I nearly fell off the bed when they weighed him. I was stunned." Doctors were forced to dislocate Samuel's shoulder while pulling him out but he has recovered with physiotherapy. When measured, he was an astonishing 61cm long - just over two feet.

Anna-Marie put him straight into clothes for three- to six-month-olds and breast-fed him for four months but he soon started demanding solid food.

She said: "They told me to try him with half a teaspoon but he sat there with his mouth open like a little bird.

"He ate half a dinner at the first try."

Anna-Marie said she would advise Alison to look after herself and take time to get back into shape.

She said: "Just let him develop on his own and it will all come naturally."

Although Harvey and Samuel may be giants in East Lancashire, they don't even come close to the all-time record. Carmelina Fedele, of Italy, gave birth in 1955 to a baby boy weighing a massive 22lb 8oz, while the British record was set by Nicola Carr, of Cumbria, who gave birth to a 15lb 8oz boy in 1992.

Did your baby beat the East Lancashire record? Let us know by calling the newsdesk on 01254 678678.

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