By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A baby born at 25 weeks and weighing only 9.7 ounces, is now thriving and expected to survive.
According to a report by the Telegraph.co.uk, the baby was born 15 weeks premature at the University of Medicine at Gottingen in Germany in June 2009. Nicknamed “Tom Thumb” by hospital staff, he was smaller than a sheet of paper when born and lived almost the first year of his life in an incubator hooked up to feeding tubes, breathing tubes, and a host of monitors that kept a constant check on his vital signs.
Nearly 10 months after his birth, the boy was pronounced “stable” after achieving a weight of 8.2 lbs, and has been released to his parents.
Dr Stephan Seeliger, an expert on premature babies, said: “I spoke to the parents about the birth beforehand – whether we should go for it or not. In the end, I said: ‘Good thing we did it!'”
Officials from the hospital told the Telegraph that worldwide records reveal three baby girls who survived a lower birth weight, but the smallest boy known to have survived weighed 10.4 ounces, making “Tom Thumb” the smallest on record thus far.
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