Doctors baffled by 28kg baby boy
LIKE any other 10-monthold, Luis Manuel Gonzales babbles and touches anything within reach. But he stands out in a stunning and perhaps life-threatening way – he weighs 28kg.
He might need medical treatment costing a fortune, but his father earns just a little over $US200 ($A261) a month. And doctors do not yet know why young Luis Manuel is so huge.
Mexico leads the world in childhood obesity and diabetes, and Gonzales is an extreme example of this unwelcome distinction.
At birth he weighed 3.5kg, about the same as his brother Mario, who is almost three but is now dwarfed by his baby brother.
At two months of age, Luis weighed 10kg. Over the next eight months he gained a staggering 18kg.
“I thought it was because I had good breast milk,” said his mother, 24-year-old Isabel Pantoja, from Tecoman, in the Pacific coast state of Colima. His parents created a Facebook page and opened a bank account for people to donate money for Luis Manuel’s medical care.
And despite lots of study, no one really knows what is wrong with this baby boy.
The boy could have a disease called Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic condition in which children have an insatiable appetite and weak muscle tone, although this boy does not eat voraciously.