The boy reacted well to the cure and rapidly started to grow in weight.
A boy from the USA was born 4 months prematurely and is registered in the Guinness Records Book.
Physicians in the US were able to rescue a boy born at 22 weeks pregnant, more than four months premature. As stated by the Guinness World Records website, Curtis Z. Keith Means has been considered the world’s most precocious baby to outlive.
The holder of this record was from Alabama, born in July 2020. As mentioned by the child’s mother, Michelle Butler, the pregnancy was initially uneventful. Nevertheless, on July 4, 2020, she needs emergency surgery. The woman was transferred to a medical facility at Alabama’s University Medical Facility at Birmingham, known for its departments of neonatology as well as pediatrics.
Butler had the desire to keep the baby, and Curtis, who was born on November 11, was born on July 5. The gestation period was then 21 weeks and one day. The newborn’s weight was 420 grams. And specialists believed that his chances of remaining alive were less than one percent.
Nevertheless, the boy reacted well to the cure and rapidly started to grow in weight.
“Our infant intense care section has never witnessed such precocious babies previously. We were absolutely walking into uncharted territory,” remembers Professor Brian Sims.
The baby was in the university hospital for 10 months and was able to return home together with his parents on April 6, 2021. Throughout the treatment, the baby was looked after by a special medical crew.
“He is my pride because I recall how he was born, and I witness what he has become currently,” accepted Michelle Butler.
In the Guinness Records Book, the boy was named the world’s most precocious baby who remained alive. Surprisingly, the preceding record bearer named Richard Hutchinson was from Wisconsin (USA), born just one month earlier than Means, on June 5, 2020.
