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'Perla' - 10 oz (285 g) - February 2002 | ||
The baby girl - nicknamed 'Perla' by her medical team - weighed only 285 grams (10 ounces) at birth at the Careggi hospital in Florence, Italy. Paediatrician Margarita Psaraki, part of Perla's medical team said, "I was afraid of holding her, doctors could not believe her size when she was born." "She would fit right into your hand." "She was ten inches (25 centimetres) long, but that's when she was stretched out, normally babies curl up." Perla's life was in the balance even before she was born. Doctors induced the birth after fears for her 28-year-old mother's health. Her mother developed arteritis - an inflammation of the arteries that led doctors at one point to consider amputating her leg and prompted them to deliver the baby early. And after the birth, they were unsure how to proceed, given the tiny size of the baby; premature babies who survive birth at 27 weeks or later still face the prospect of severe mental or physical problems later in life. Doctors spent three months nursing Perla back to health, at one point even commissioning a medical technology supplier to make equipment small enough for them to use on her. "She really had the will to live, she was strong and lively," Ms Psaraki said "She was immediately lively, active. This helped us to help her." Update May 26, 2002: Perla, born two months premature, spent three months in intensive care following her birth, suffering from breathing difficulties, anaemia, hypothyroidism, hypoglycaemia and jaundice, according to Italian media reports. Now weighing two kilograms (4.4 pounds), doctors said she now has almost a 100% chance of leading a normal life, and that her parents can bring her up normally. "She had the good fortune to arrive in the 27th week, all her organs were already formed and that's why it was possible to save her," one of Italy's top neonatal experts, Giorgio Rondini, told the media. "Twenty years ago, 80% of newborn babies died if they weighed less than 1.5kg. Today 85% are saved and will not necessarily have growth difficulties." | ||
Small babies - Low Birth Weight (LBW) or (SGA) | ||
 Small for gestational age (SGA) babies are those whose birth weight lies below the 10th percentile for that gestational age. Low birth weight (LBW), is sometimes used to define a baby that weighs less than 5 lb 8 oz (2500 g) regardless of gestational age. One third of babies born with a low birth weight are also small for gestational age.Other definitions include Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) which is less than 3 lb 5 oz (1500 g), and Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) which is less than 2 lb 3 oz (1000 g). About 10 percent of fetuses are low birth weight. A health care provider may suspect fetal growth restriction if the mother's uterus measurement (fundal height) is lower than expected. This can be confirmed with a series of ultrasounds that will monitor how quickly the fetus is growing. The main causes for Low Birth Weight: The two main causes of LBW are early delivery, also known as preterm birth, and poor fetal growth. About 70% of all LBW babies are born preterm - before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. The remaining 30% of low birth weight babies are born at full term, but did not grow properly in the womb. More Information on... | ||
Some of the world's lowest birth weight babies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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