World’s Smallest Baby finally left for home. He was on life support for five months. Born in Keio University Hospital, Tokyo in August, the baby weighs 9.45 ounces. He weighs as much as an average human heart.
According to the doctors, the baby has stopped showing signs of growth inside the womb of his mother. This made the delivery via C-section necessary. The baby was delivered at fetal viability or cutoff in Japan i.e. twenty four weeks.
Credits: IBT
Dr Takeshi Arimitsu took over the baby’s treatment after the delivery. He said that umbilical catheter was used for infusion therapy and treating the baby. The baby was kept in a ventilator to provide him respiratory support.
The baby was kept in a neonatal intensive care unit for a time period of five months so that he could reach a stable weight. He was discharged from the hospital on 20 February. The baby was delivered using Cesarean section for circumventing a stillbirth. At the time of his birth, the baby was so small that one can fit him in cupped palms.
The baby weighed just 7.1 pounds at the time of birth. He is the world’s smallest baby to be sent home in good health. The baby’s mother said,
I am grateful that he has grown this big because, honestly, I wasn’t sure he could survive.
Dr Edward Bell, the neonatal pediatrics professor of University of Lowa, ranked the baby as the fourth smallest child born since 1936. The World Health Organization reported that the average global baby weight at the time of birth is 7.28 pounds.
Source: IBT, Telegraph
