World's smallest baby boy, born in Tokyo weighing 268 grams, healthy and sent home from hospital

Keio University in Tokyo said Tuesday that a baby with a birth weight of 268 grams has been released from care at its hospital after growing to a weight of 3,238 grams, becoming the smallest boy in the world to be sent home healthy.

The previous record holder was born weighing 274 grams in Germany in 2009, the university said, citing the University of Iowa’s registry for the world’s tiniest babies. The smallest girl was born weighing 252 grams, also in Germany, in 2015.

There had been 23 babies worldwide who were prematurely born weighing under 300 grams and survived, out of whom only four were boys, according to the Tiniest Babies Registry website.

The boy from Tokyo was born through an emergency C-section in August as his weight did not increase at 24 weeks gestation and doctors determined his life was in danger, the university said.

The baby was so small at birth that he could fit in a pair of hands. But after doctors treated him at a neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital by managing his breathing and nutrition, he grew steadily and was able to be breastfed.

He left the hospital last Wednesday, two months after the initial due date.

The survival rate for babies born weighing less than 1,000 grams is about 90 percent in Japan, but that of babies less than 300 grams, especially boys, is low.

“I want people to know that babies can return home vigorous even if they are born small,” said attending Dr. Takeshi Arimitsu.

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter