Sunday, March 7, 2010

  Smallest Baby Boy - world record set by 'Tom Thumb'

  GOETTINGEN, Germany -- 'Tom Thumb', a baby who was born in June last year in the 25th week of pregnancy, weighing just 275 grams, survived after he spent six months in intensive care and was finally discharged in December after growing to 3.7 kg , setting the world record for the Smallest Baby Boy .

 ( enlarge photo )

  Doctors did not publicize the world's Smallest Baby Boy at first due to his perilous health.

   The Smallest Baby Boy in the world was kept on an incubator for 24 hours a day, breathing and eating with tubes and constantly monitored. Now, weighing 8.2lbs, he has been allowed home with his parents.

  His true identity has been kept secret at his parents' request.

  Doctors usually believe that babies weighing below 12oz (350g) will not survive. A can of Coke weighs 12oz, meaning the boy was weighed just three quarters of a can.

Stefan Weller, a spokesman for the University of Goettingen Hospital said doctors had checked every available record worldwide of premature births and found no viable birth at a lower weight.   

 A spokesman for the university told Sky News that doctors were "extremely proud" of the Smallest Baby Boy in the world. "This was an incredible fight for life," the spokesman added.

The hospital says they are now confident ' Tom Thumb ' will lead a normal, healthy life. A spokesman said: 'The danger has passed. 'He was most vulnerable when his organs were underdeveloped. Now he is the weight of a normal baby and healthy in every way.'    Photo: Born after a mere 25 weeks, the Smallest Baby Boy in the world is so small that the tape measure laid next to him is bigger than his limbs. He weighs a mere 9oz (275g) and from head to toe is the length of a sheet of A4 paper. ( enlarge photo )

While 'Tom Thumb,' as doctors nicknamed him, is the most premature boy to survive , there have been three more premature girls born.

   The most premature baby to survive, a girl born in Miami in 2004, is thought to have been born after 21 weeks.

   Experts advise doctors not to resuscitate babies born before 23 weeks in the womb.

  The previous Guinness world record for the Smallest Baby Boy is said to have been held by Tyler Martin who was born in New Jersey, in the U.S., in 2004 weighing 11oz (320g).

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Related world records :
Smallest Man - world record set by Wu Kang

Smallest mother - Stacey Herald sets world record

Smallest waist-world record set by Cathie Jung

Fattest child-world record set by Dzhambik Khatokhov

Most prolific surrogate mother-world record set by Carole Horlock

Sunday, March 7, 2010