Baby Weighs Half-Pound at Birth, Survives, Thrives

The world’s smallest-ever surviving baby boy — just 9 ounces when he was born — is eight months old now and doing well, Sky News reported Friday.

The tiny child — smaller than a can of soda — was born after just 25 weeks.

He was so little at birth that a tape measure laid next to his body was wider than his limbs.

Doctors in Germany were convinced he would not survive, but refused to give up hope.

Now, eight months after his birth, doctors have finally released a picture of the baby, confident he is strong enough to make it through.

The child is the smallest baby boy ever to survive. There have been three girls who have weighed less at birth. The most premature baby to survive, a girl born in Miami in 2004, is believed to have been born after 21 weeks.

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

The baby in Germany was delivered by Caeserean section at the University of Medicine at Goettingen in June 2009.

A spokesman for the university told Sky News Online that doctors were "extremely proud" of the boy and the parents were overjoyed.

"This was an incredible fight for life," the spokesman said.

Source Link: Sky News