A mum has been left astounded after giving birth to a baby boy who tipped the scales at an incredible 12lbs 9oz, almost matching the size of her toddler. Toni Lincoln, aged 33, welcomed her son Brayden into the world via caesarean section at Broomfield Hospital on January 14, arriving nearly a fortnight ahead of schedule.

The bouncing newborn, Toni’s second child, was so hefty that medics declared him the largest baby ever born in the hospital, with the surgeon admitting he’d never seen a baby of such size. Now six months old, Brayden is already donning clothes for nine to 12-month-olds, poised to move up to the next size, and weighs a solid 7.6kg.

Toni expressed her astonishment at the stark size difference between Brayden and her first child, Ellah, who is nearly three and weighed a more typical 8lbs 8oz at birth, despite there being a two-and-a-half-year gap between them. The Braintree-based cleaner, who herself was a 7lbs 11oz baby, exclaimed: “We made history.”

The sheer size of Brayden took everyone by surprise, as doctors had initially predicted he would be between 8lbs and 9lbs, leaving Toni and her partner Alex, a factory worker, utterly gobsmacked when he arrived weighing close to 13lbs. Toni recalled her reaction upon seeing her newborn: “When they gave him to me I was like ‘I don’t know if it’s all the drugs I’m on or if I’m seeing things or is he huge?’.”

“The doctors were like ‘yeah, he’s a little bit bigger than we anticipated. Maybe a lot bigger, maybe 12lbs 9oz,’ (Image: SWNS)

She recounted the doctors’ response: “The doctors were like ‘yeah, he’s a little bit bigger than we anticipated. Maybe a lot bigger, maybe 12lbs 9oz,’ and I said ‘sorry? What did you say?’ I couldn’t believe it.”

Despite not knowing exactly how large Brayden would be, Toni sensed something was amiss during her pregnancy. She revealed: “I couldn’t walk at the end [of my pregnancy], I couldn’t get out of bed – and now I know why. I was carrying around an extra five stone. He was nearly a stone himself and then obviously the placenta and the fluid. I dropped 30 kilos when he came out. I felt like a different person.” Upon Brayden’s arrival, the couple had to purchase all new clothes and nappies, as he was so large he completely bypassed newborn sizing.

Toni explained: “We had to go out and buy all new clothes for him, nappies, we had nothing. He was literally a newborn in 0-3 months clothes. My partner had to run out to Primark. He went straight into size one nappies and then into two a couple of days later. I gave all the clothes from friends and family to the hospital for other patients.

He had to be extracted by his hips and was born with talipes, where one foot was bent inward, a result of his position in the womb. (Image: SWNS)

“I thought I was prepared. We bought 0-1 month and thought we don’t need 0-3 but little did I know.” Toni was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, but doctors were puzzled as to what caused his size. She stated: “They said it could be gestational diabetes but my sugars were actually better this time. My sugars were awful last time with my daughter and she was normal size.” Doctors speculate that Brayden would have grown to 14lbs if he had gone full-term.

He had to be extracted by his hips and was born with talipes, where one foot was bent inward, a result of his position in the womb. “They said if I had a natural birth he would have died because he was upside down,” Toni revealed. Brayden was immediately whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit, requiring a week of oxygen support to combat his low blood sugar levels.

Due to Brayden’s considerable size, his outline could not be distinctly seen on the 36-week scan and according to Toni, it seemed as though “every consultant from Broomfield” attended her six-and-a-half hour C-section. “I had to have a very unusual scar,” she noted. She recounted her scarring ordeal: “I’ve got a vertical scar instead of a horizontal one again, because of my problems last time. It all went a bit wrong so they wanted to be prepared.”

Reflecting on the enormity of the procedure, she said: “The surgeon said it was the biggest scar they had ever done. It comes all the way up to the top of my stomach. It’s massive – 32 centimetres.” Toni shares that personnel at the hospital now affectionately refer to Brayden as “the big baby”.

With a sense of pride she relayed the surgeon’s words: “The surgeon said he was the biggest baby she has ever delivered herself in 20 years. And the consultant was like ‘he just walked out’.” Even relatives had trouble grappling with Brayden’s size at birth. Narrating their disbelief, Toni said: “When I told my family how big he was they were like ‘don’t be silly’.”

Describing the moment she broke the news to her mum, Sally, she shared: “I rang my mum, Sally, 59 and said ‘I’ve got something to tell you’. I showed her and she said ‘oh my god!'” The overwhelming response to Brayden’s size often came with a touch of humour, as Toni noted, “People keep joking he’s going to college soon.” And when comparing her two children, she observed: “When him and my toddler lie down together, they look the same age.” Highlighting the improbable age gap, she remarked: “You wouldn’t think they were two years and four months apart.”