Newborn Baby Breaks Records as World’s Smallest, Measuring 8.2 Inches and Weighing 230 Grams
In the German city of Witten, baby Emilia Grabarczyk was delivered prematurely in the 26th week of pregnancy via a Caesarean section. Her entire foot was the size of a thumbnail, and she reportedly weighed no more than a bell pepper. Doctors feared that without an early delivery, Emilia would have died, as the placenta was not sufficient for her nutrition. Weighing in at just 8 ounces and only 8.6 inches long, Emilia has been called the smallest surviving baby in the world.
At the beginning of the 26th week of pregnancy, Prof Dr. Sven Schiermeier, the chief physician of obstetrics, decided, together with the parents, to deliver the baby by Caesarean section. He said that otherwise Emilia would have died in the womb as there was a problem with the placenta, meaning she was not getting the nutrition needed to survive. Usually, a fetus in the 26th week of pregnancy would have weighed around 21 ounces, but the problem meant Emilia was well underweight.
Parents Lukas and Sabine Grabarczyk said there was no question as to whether they would give the child a chance, even if the odds for survival were low. But naturally, her early arrival and low birth weight were followed by a period of uncertainty. Complications, including an increased risk of hyperactivity and learning difficulties, were explained by Dr. Bahman Gharaevi. Yet luckily for the girl, there are no signs of serious disability.
Emilia weighed 106 ounces (a little over six and a half pounds) nine months after her birth and showed no signs of serious disability. But making it through the first few months of her existence outside the womb was no easy thing. She was initially fed through a tube, and doctors used cotton soaked in sugar water to calm her and soothe her pain. She now weighs in at 7 lbs 2 oz – a healthy weight for a newborn. Local reports say it makes her the lightest premature baby in the world to survive. The previous record is thought to be held by Rumaisa Rahman, who was born at the Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago when her mother was 25 weeks pregnant. At birth, she was eight inches tall and weighed 8.6 ounces.
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