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By Lucy Notarantonio
Senior Reporter
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When Mika gave birth to her son four weeks early, she was preparing herself for a small baby.
The 27‑year‑old mother, who lives in Canada, recently shared her story on TikTok, posting a photo of herself holding her baby bump with text layered over it that read: “I was so worried. He’d be tiny and fragile.”
The next image shows her newborn son, who was born in August 2025, weighing 10lb 3oz, racking up 1.5 million views.
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“I was absolutely shocked!” Mika, who goes by @lazyoctopuss online, told Newsweek.
“I knew he would be big as I am Type 2 diabetic,” she said, but added that delivering at 36 weeks made her expect a very different outcome.
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In the comments section of her video, Mika explained what led to the early delivery.
"He was going to have to be induced to come out at 38 weeks anyway,” she wrote. “But at 36 weeks, I went to the hospital with really high blood pressure and they said that for the health of both of us he needed to come out that day.”
Once her son was born, his size quickly became a talking point throughout the hospital.
“The whole hospital was just buzzing with the 10 pounds baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), everyone was talking about it!” she told Newsweek.
How Gestational Diabetes Affects a Baby’s Body Fat
Research suggests Mika’s experience may not be as unusual as it seems. Scientists from Imperial College London studied 86 babies using MRI scans taken shortly after birth and again when the babies were between eight and 12 weeks old.
The 2016 study found that babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes showed no difference in body fat at birth, but by two months old had about 16 percent more body fat than babies born to mothers without the condition.
Most of the babies in the study were breast‑fed, and the mothers’ diabetes was well controlled during pregnancy. Researchers said the reasons for the differences remain unclear, though possible explanations include changes in the baby’s metabolism before birth or differences in breast milk composition.
The findings suggest that diabetes during pregnancy may affect babies earlier than previously thought, even when they appear healthy at birth.
TikTok Reacts
Mika’s TikTok post quickly drew attention, with many users reacting with humor and disbelief at her son’s size.
“IMAGINE IF THEY LEFT HIM IN TO BAKE THAT EXTRA MONTH,” one user commented.
Another wrote: “Damn, I see why he was need to be taken out, [he] would've started to overcook.”
A third added: “Holy hell girl how’d you survive???”
“Excuse me miss that’s a grown man,” joked another.
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