Saturday, 05 October 2024

The World's Smallest Baby Boy Is Even More Remarkable Than You Think

 
The baby boy before he was taken home from the hospital.
Credit: Keio University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics

In August 2018, a baby boy was born in Tokyo weighing only 9.45 ounces (268 grams) — about the weight of a bag of potato chips.

The boy had stopped growing in his mother's womb, doctors at Keio University Hospital told Reuters, and had to be delivered by an emergency Caesarean section 24 weeks into the mother's pregnancy to avoid a stillbirth. But the baby was smaller and less developed than he should have been at 24 weeks, which is the youngest age most doctors consider "viable," meaning the child can survive outside the womb. He could not breath or eat on his own, and his entire body fit inside his parents' cupped hands.

But last week, on Feb. 20, after five months of treatment, that baby boy was finally discharged from Keio University Hospital and allowed to go home with his family. Though he now weighs a healthy 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms), he leaves the hospital with the distinction of being the world's smallest surviving male baby born in recorded history. 

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