A BOY in the U.S. State of Alabama who weighed less than a pound (453 grams) at birth after his mother went into labor at only 21 weeks and one day of gestation has been certified as the world’s most premature baby to survive.

Guinness World Records and UAB Hospital announced Wednesday that Curtis Means, who weighed only 14.8 ounces (420 grams) at birth, set the new record. Born 132 days premature July 5, 2020 with a twin who didn’t survive, Means is now healthy and 16 months old.

Dr. Brian Sims, who was the attending physician, said statistics show that children born so young have virtually no chance of survival, but Means beat the odds.

“We typically advise for compassionate care in situations of such extremely preterm births,” Sims said in a statement from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which operates the hospital. “This allows the parents to hold their babies and cherish what little time they may have together.”

Instead, Means grew stronger and stronger and was discharged after 275 days in the hospital. He needed help from therapists to begin using his mouth and eating. “Being able to finally take Means home and surprise my older children with their younger brother is a moment I will always remember,” mother Michelle Butler of rural Eutaw, Alabama, said in a statement.

Guinness said Means beat by a day the previous record, which held for only a month. Richard Hutchinson, from Wisconsin, was born at a gestational age of 21 weeks, 2 days in June 2020.

(SD-Agencies)