The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to her third child.
Kate, 36, delivered the baby boy, weighing 3.83 kg, at the exclusive Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, on St George’s Day.
Her husband William, 35, was present for the birth, and both mum and baby are “doing well”, Kensington Palace said in a statement this afternoon.
(And while you’re here, we would like to take this opportunity to mention that, due to technical issues, UKMA’s website has a new temporary address: https://ukmetric.wordpress.com )
Metric Views 
How did Metric Views become privy to the real birth weight? On the BBC the boy’s weight is reported in pounzernounces.
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Jake,
I’m sure Metric Views did a back conversion. What is really sad, is that both numbers are wrong. The real birth is a secret of the hospital that measured the mass in grams. Then someone converted it to heavens knows what and we take the heaven knows what value and back convert it to a value we think is the real mass. Is it?
The real proof would be for them to show the baby being weighed and the numbers on the scale being visible for all to see. But I’m sure they would be dead set against this due to the fact the real numbers would irritate the traditionalists.
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All of the News Reports based on my Google search are giving the mass in Pounds & Ounces (kg). The kilogram value is give as 3.8 kg, not 3.81 kg as Metric Views has stated. The question is, when a newborn is weighed, how many decimal places appear in the display and if it is given in grams to what resolution is the actual reading?
https://www.google.com/search?q=kate+baby+boy+kilograms&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
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@ Daniel Jackson 2018-04-24 at 00:45
The only report I found that gave the metric at all was CNN.
As I understand the situation all NHS scales used for clinical purposes (those not in public places) must be class 3 scales. Class 3 scales are metric only. This one, a hand held device has a resolution of 10g, thus it could weigh to two places of decimals. Fixed scales resolve to 5g. It would be my guess the NHS record to two decimal places. Strange we hear nothing from those that should know these things.
https://www.ourweigh.co.uk/baby-scales-measuring-equip/marsden-m-310-hand-held-baby-scale-class-iii.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwq_vWBRACEiwAEReprCUMkVSM9a0Huu4O47QFbI4nBUeLOUvp8tqshMjSNdsaMzMiYpwziBoCnR8QAvD_BwE
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In mishmash UK, a baby’s birth weight is given in pounds and ounces rather than kilogrammes. The abbreviations used are lbs and oz, clearly an inconsistency. In fact I suggest that the abbreviation for pounds (weight) should be lb rather than lbs. Is there a consensus?
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@ jackthesmilingblack 2018-04-25 at 02:38
I am unable to find the actual legislation, but it is my understanding that the pound Avoirdupois was deprecated, and removed from UK statute quite a number of years ago.
As such it does not exist in UK and has no standard form, anyone that still uses it can use whatever form they desire, it has no legal meaning.
Having said that, a lot of organisations put an ‘s’ (second) on the end of many a symbol, it looks stupid whatever side you are on.
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@ jackthesmilingblack
I can only answer for the US but direction here is equally confusing.
NIST treats all Customary abbreviations as invariant symbols; lower case, no pluralization, no period.
On the other hand, FTC, which writes the detailed rules for product labels under FPLA, treats all three features as entirely optional for Customary, while requiring strict symbol usage for the metric declaration. So, pound can be anything from lb to LBS. on product labels and presumably babies, but only kg is allowed for kilogram.
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In announcing the baby’s name today, the Guardian gave the weight in metric first. Too bad it’s presumably a back-conversion.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/27/duke-and-duchess-of-cambridge-name-their-baby-son-louis-arthur-charles
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I remember when the baby’s weight was first mentioned on the news my little niece said to my sister, mum that baby’s weight is saying Lbs is it a foreign word for kilos, well from the mouths of babes, bless shows you that kg means what it says but lb is confusing especially for young children who associate letters with words so in their young minds pounds should be letters using those that are used in the spelling of pounds similar to kg.
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The notice to use metric-only scales in NHS hospitals, dated 15 March 2010, can be found at http://www.hfs.scot.nhs.uk/publications/1481219789-EFA%202010%20001.pdf.
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