Santiago Mendoza has become one of Colombia’s largest babies. Already at 8 months old, the baby weighed more than 20 kilograms, which is almost 2.5 times the normal weight.
The media and television attention that was brought to Santiago’s family helped his parents take the first step: they realized the seriousness of what was happening and sought help from specialists.
Santiago Mendoza
Santiago was born in 2013 in the provincial town of Colombia. He was the fifth child in the family. His mother Eunice is a housewife. Busy with household chores and raising the baby’s older siblings, she always gave Santiago a bottle of milk when he cried. Often without noticing it was the third or fourth bottle in an hour.
From such frequent feeding, the baby began to gain weight actively. He weighed a little over 3 kilograms at birth, but by eight months, he was over the 20-kilogram mark. When journalists found out about Santiago, he became the most talked about baby in the media.
Only then did his parents realize that the baby was actually “big. Santiago was sent to a clinic in the capital, where a whole team of specialists took up the fight against his excess weight.
Santiago was accompanied by one-year-old Isabella Casedo, who weighed 19.5 kilograms.
Thanks to the well-coordinated work of doctors and children’s fitness trainers, Santiago’s weight gain was significantly reduced, and at the age of two he weighed about 19 kg, only 6 kg more than normal.
Unfortunately, in 2015, the boy’s parents ran out of funds to continue the weight loss course. However, the public could not remain indifferent, and soon sponsors were found who were ready to help the boy.
In 2017, the 4-year-old began exercising on his own, trying not to gain excess weight. But the love of sweets still remained in the first place for him for a very long time.
Now Santiago is almost 9 years old. He does well at school, attends water aerobics classes and leads a healthy lifestyle. He still has a few “extra” pounds, but the boy is sure that he will be able to get rid of them in the near future. We hope that he will succeed!