A 10-month old baby girl in India weighs a staggering 41 pounds, the same weight as a six-year-old girl.
The baby girl, whose name is Aliya Saleem, comes from a family of four in India. The family is struggling financially to care for their daughter, who has an unknown disorder, with doctors at a loss on how to control her weight gain.
Aliya's parents, Shabana Parveen, 25, and Mohammad Saleem, 29, say that their daughter was born weighing nine pounds. However, she quickly gained up to 41 pounds, due to her insatiable appetite which constantly requires food. She reportedly binges on biscuits and curry tips to keep her content.
With Saleem earning just $4 a day as a tailor, the family cannot afford to get healthcare for their child.
Aliya's parents fear that their daughter will face the same fate as that of their other daughter, who died of the same condition at one and a half years. She reportedly died suddenly from her uncontrollable disease.
Due to the extra weight, the baby has trouble sleeping because her large frame makes it harder for her lungs to breathe.
The couple, who has a five-year-old son, stays at home because they cannot afford to send him to school.
The condition remains a mystery to doctors. Dr. Krishan Chug, Head of Pediatrics, said Aliya is the largest baby she's ever seen and believes this could be caused by a hormonal imbalance. "This is the heaviest baby at ten months of age that I have seen. This could be case of morbid obesity or even a hormonal imbalance. But we need to conduct some tests on her before making a proper diagnosis. The treatment depends on the diagnosis that we make. There are some disorders that can be treated. As far as the reversal of this weight gain is concerned, that would depend on when we find a cause for it."
