As the debate escalates in the U.S. over late-term abortion, the world’s “tiniest baby” boy ever recorded to have survived, who was born at just 24 weeks and weighing under 10 ounces, has just gone home healthy.
The boy, whose name has not been released, was born by Caesarean-section weighing just 9.45 ounces, which is lighter than the previous all-time recorded low for a baby boy set a decade ago.
The child spent several months at the Keio University Hospital in Tokyo after being born three months early in August. While his mother said she at times doubted that he would survive, the boy was finally released to go home on Feb. 20 — and made history in the process.
Doctors decided to perform the C-section in August after the little boy stopped gaining weight in the womb. He then spent five months in the neonatal ICU.
The baby’s doctor, Dr. Takeshi Arimitsu, told CNN that when he was born, he needed both “a ventilator for respiratory support and an umbilical catheter for infusion therapy,” the network reported Thursday.
Though he came into the world at under 10 ounces, he went home weighing 7.1 pounds — just slightly under the average birth weight for a child (7.28 pounds).- READ MORE