by Anna White

When proud parents Virginia and Andrew Corbett were preparing for their new baby's arrival, they didn't anticipate needing clothes to fit a three-month-old.

But the Staplehurst couple were in for a shock when baby Charlie popped into the world weighing a whopping 12lbs 6oz.

Charlie, who was born by Caesarean section at Pembury Hospital, weighed almost double the average 6lb 7oz newborn - and he was a week early.

Andrew, 40, said: "We knew he was going to be big but we couldn't believe it.

"We had taken clothes to the hospital for him which were size nought to three months but they were too small.

"People kept asking us if we are the parents with the big baby. When we sent an email round to say he had been born, our friends thought his weight must have been the time he was born."

The couple from Hurst Close, who met while they both worked at an IT company in London, also have a two-year-old daughter, Summer, who was born weighing 10lbs 10oz.

Virginia, 39, who gave birth on Monday, March 14, said: "I think it must be because we have a lot of tall people in both families.

"When Charlie was born, there was a baby in the next bed who weighed just 4lbs and the nurses kept laughing at the difference between them.

"Charlie shouldn't really weigh what he does until he is at least two-and-a-half months old but he is perfectly happy and healthy. He just gets hungry a lot!"

Charlie is just two pounds lighter than the UK's heaviest baby girl, who was born this year weighing 12lbs 8oz.

The heaviest known surviving newborn was in Aversa, Italy, in September 1955 weighing 22lb 8oz.

Did your baby weigh more than Charlie? Let us know at messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk