A five-month-old baby who likely weighs more than his highchair has caused a stir on social media with his parents accused of using photoshop.
Chelsea Meredith, 29, and Ant Goodwin, 39, were surprised at how quickly little Ryder has grown as they are 5’4” and 5’5” respectively.
The mum and dad, from Tonbridge, Kent, did not expect such a reaction when they innocently posted a video of their son bouncing in his father's arms.
Ryder currently weighs 1st 12lbs compared to the average weight of a highchair at less than 1st 8lbs.
Chelsea said: “A few people have accused us of using a filter to make him bigger but he is just a big baby and dad is not very tall so that in turn exaggerates how big he looks in the video, we think.
"It has been expensive trying to keep him in clothes, we are having to buy him a whole new wardrobe every three or four weeks.”
Chelsea said Ryder is already in clothing for children aged nine to 12 months - and sometimes wears 12 to 18 months.
She found out she was pregnant with her third child in February 2021.
The stay-at-home mum said: “We had been planning on having a baby sometime soon but I was shocked to find the test was positive as we were lucky enough to not have been trying for very long.
“I rang Ant straight away and he was just as surprised as me but we were both over the moon!"
While her baby bump was large, Chelsea did not find this out of the ordinary as she had large bumps with her other two children.
Ryder was born on September 28 at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, weighing a healthy 9lb 12oz.
“We both couldn’t believe how perfect and handsome he was for a newborn!” said his mum.
“We took bets on what he was going to weigh, we had been prepared for a big baby - but we both thought he actually looked quite small until he was put on the scales!
“We both couldn’t quite believe he weighed that much."
The sizeable lad just kept growing, which was accelerated further when he swapped from breastfeeding to formula at two months old.
Now he weighs 1.9st and is 68.5cm tall, guzzling up to seven 6oz bottles each day.
Mum-of-three Chelsea said: “When we pass him to family members that aren’t expecting him to be quite so heavy, they are shocked how much strength it takes to hold him.
“Often when we are stopped by people wanting to look in the pram they are surprised by how big he is for his age, they all think he’s adorable and love how chunky he is.”
On February 20, the parents posted a video of landscaping company director Ant holding out their tot on TikTok, which went viral and now has over 18million views and three million likes.
Chelsea said: “We were shocked and overwhelmed, we couldn’t believe so many people were viewing the video.
“The nice comments were lovely to read and we take the bad ones with a pinch of salt as we know you can’t please everybody.”
Commenters have joked: "Is he free Saturday? Need someone to help with some block work" and "I hope he’s paying rent".
And some have even accused the parents of feeding him protein shakes instead of formula.
But, despite what the trolls say, Ryder’s doctors have confirmed he is growing at a healthy rate and that the sizes of the couple’s other children suggest his size is largely down to genetics.
Chelsea said: "Ryder is happy, content, cheeky and playful, he’s a joy to be around.
“All babies are different and being a large baby doesn’t mean they are unhealthy, there are lots of factors that can contribute to this and genes are one of them.”
