RUBY Devereux may only be three days old, but her birth weight of 11lbs 8oz makes her the average size of three month old baby.

And while mum Natalie Mortimer is celebrating with her (little) bundle of joy, staff at Hope Hospital maternity unit believe Ruby could be the biggest baby they have ever delivered.

The tot, born by Caesarean section on Wednesday afternoon, is already growing out of the age 0-3 month-sized baby clothes bought for her by family and friends, and Natalie has had to swap newborn nappies for the next size up.

She said: "No one could believe how big she was - I could hear the nurses and midwives saying `she's a real whopper', just as I'd given birth. After she was weighed, I even asked the midwife to do it again to check there had been no mistake. But she said Ruby was definitely 11lb 8oz."

Natalie, and her boyfriend Christopher Devereux, were warned she might have a big baby after scans revealed Ruby was growing fast.

And by the time she was nearly ready to give birth, everyone thought 5ft 4in Natalie was expecting twins.

The 19-year-old said: "I didn't even start showing until I was 25 weeks pregnant, but then the baby really grew quickly. Everyone said I must be having twins and I was so big towards the end that I couldn't even make it up the stairs."

No surprise

Natalie's father, Steve, said he wasn't too surprised at Ruby's weight.

He said: "I think it runs in the family - Natalie weighed 10lb 4oz when she was born, and her younger brother Steven was 9lb 8oz even though he was two-weeks' early. I heard that Christopher's dad was a big baby too - over 12 pounds I think. But Ruby's fantastic - she's my first grandchild and we're all over the moon."

Dr Shaista Iftikhar, who oversaw Natalie's delivery at the hospital, was more shocked.

She said: "This is the biggest baby I have ever delivered, and probably the biggest we have seen on the ward. We usually see a range of birth weights between 7lb 7oz and about 9lb so Ruby was way above that. It was a difficult birth for Natalie but I'm just glad that she and Ruby are both doing well."

Despite Ruby's size, she is not the biggest baby born in recent years.

In February, Mexican baby Antonio Vasconcelas was born weighing 14lbs 8oz, and in January 2005, a new Brazilian baby weighed in at 17lb.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the heaviest baby was a boy born to a healthy mother in Italy in September 1955 weighing 22lbs 8oz.

A doctor in Torpoint, Cornwall, reported that a child born on Christmas Day in 1852 weighed 21lbs. A boy weighing 20lbs 2oz was born in Crewe in November 1884.

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