A baby born so small he wasn't expected to live was recently discharged as healthy enough to go home with his family.
The baby boy was born five months ago by way of a Caesarean-section at the Keio University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. He weighed just 9.45 ounces, slightly heavier than a soft ball. Doctors decided to deliver at 24 weeks of pregnancy, because the infant was no longer gaining weight, CNN reports.
But, chances the child would survive were next to none, as the tiniest baby boy ever recorded to survive after birth is a German boy who weighed 9.6 ounces, according to the Tiniest Babies registry managed by the University of Iowa.
Dr. Takeshi Arimitsu, who treated the newborn in Japan, told CNN the baby required a ventilator to breathe and an umbilical catheter at birth. Surprisingly, Arimitsu said the boy gained weight under intensive care, and was released from the hospital at over seven pounds on Feb. 20, Reuters reports.
The smallest baby girl ever known to survive birth was born at 8.889 ounces in Germany in 2015, according to the University of Iowa registry.
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