Huge 53lb Toddler Won’t Stop Growing: The Baffling Case of Aliya Saleem

At just 18 months old, Aliya Saleem weighs an astonishing 53 pounds (24 kilograms)—the size of an average seven-year-old. Her relentless weight gain has left doctors puzzled and her family deeply worried, especially given their painful history.

A Tragic Past and Rising Fears

Aliya’s mother, Shabana, knows all too well the heartbreak of losing a child.

“I had one daughter, Simran. She was 1½ years old. Her weight was around 24 kg. While eating, one day her vein’s nerve burst and she died.”

Now, with Aliya reaching the same age and weight as Simran, fear hangs heavy in the household. Aliya was born a healthy weight, but by three months old, her size began to increase at a startling rate. By ten months, she weighed 41 pounds (over 18 kg). Now, at 18 months, she tips the scales at 53 pounds—and she’s still growing.

Daily Life: Eating, Growing, and Struggling

Aliya’s appetite is insatiable.
Her mother describes a daily routine packed with food:

“She wakes up in the morning and eats roti, tea, biscuits, papad, cakes. At noon, she eats dal rice, and she sleeps after having another meal in the evening. She drinks milk too. She eats everything you give her. She eats, she eats everything.”

The family struggles to keep up—not just with the cost of food, but with buying new clothes every two weeks as Aliya grows out of them. For a poor family, these expenses are overwhelming.

But unlike other toddlers, Aliya can barely move.

“All the girls of her age group have started walking or crawling, but she stays sitting in one place. She wants to walk and play and cries seeing the other kids. She asks me to pick her up and take her for a walk. But I am unable to pick her up. So for the entire day, I keep on sitting with her in the room itself.”

Desperate for Answers

Aliya’s parents, Shabana and Mohammad, have tried everything to get help.

“We have a fear in our hearts because we’ve already lost a daughter, and hope nothing happens to the other daughter. That is why there is a lot of tension. We took her to Ranchi a few times but the doctors asked us to take her abroad. We didn’t have enough money, so that’s why we couldn’t take her abroad. We consulted a homeopathic doctor once. They gave medication, but they did not make any difference. Every month her weight continues to increase.”

The family’s search for medical answers has so far been fruitless. But today, they hope a pediatrician might finally provide some clarity.

A Doctor’s Suspicions

Aliya’s case is perplexing.

“She has been gaining weight drastically since the age of three months. There could be multiple causes behind that. There could be some hormonal imbalance; there could be some metabolic disease. There can be some genetic causes, it could be because of some tumor—but because there’s a history of sibling loss with a similar complaint, I strongly suspect that this could be a case of some genetic disorder. Most probably, Prader-Willi syndrome, which is a very, very rare disorder.”

But to confirm a diagnosis, Aliya will need a battery of tests:

Hormone levels
Organ function
Diabetes screening
Thyroid and cortisol tests
MRI of the hypothalamus
Ultrasound of the adrenals
X-ray for bone age

Genetic karyotyping

Only after these investigations can doctors hope to understand what is causing Aliya’s dramatic growth—and how to help her.

A Family’s Hope

Aliya’s story is one of desperation, love, and hope. Her parents want nothing more than to see her healthy and happy, to avoid the tragedy they endured once before. But as Aliya continues to grow, her future—and the answers they seek—remain uncertain.

Will doctors find the cause behind Aliya’s unstoppable growth? Can her family get the support they need before it’s too late? The world waits, hoping for a miracle for the little girl who just won’t stop growing.