Saybie was confirmed by Dr. Edward Bell of the University of Iowa, which keeps the Tiniest Babies Registry, to be the new smallest surviving premature baby in that registry.The worlds smallest premature boy to survive was born in February 2009 at Childrens Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. Jonathon Whitehill was born at 25 weeks gestation with a weight of 310 g (10+7⁄8 oz). He was hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit for five months, and then discharged.In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worlds most premature baby was born. The baby, named Richard Hutchinson, was born at Childrens Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 5, 2020, at 21 weeks 2 days gestation. At birth he weighed 340 g (12 oz). He remained hospitalized until November 2020, when he was then discharged.Historical figures who were born prematurely include Johannes Kepler (born in 1571 at seven months gestation), Isaac Newton (born in 1642, small enough to fit into a quart mug, according to his mother), Winston Churchill (born in 1874 at seven months gestation), and Anna Pavlova (born in 1885 at seven months gestation). Effect of the coronavirus pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a drastic drop in the rate of premature births has been reported in many countries, ranging from a 20% reduction to a 90% drop in the starkest cases. Studies in Ireland and Denmark first noticed the phenomenon, and it has been confirmed elsewhere.
The evidence in the form of high quality randomized trials is generally fairly weak in this area, and for this reason different neonatal intensive care units may have different practices and this results in a fairly large variation in practice. The care of preterm infants also varies in different countries and depends on resources that are available. Human breast milk and formula
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended feeding preterm infants human milk, finding "significant short- and long-term beneficial effects," including lower rates of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In the absence of evidence from randomised controlled trials about the effects of feeding preterm infants with formula compared with mothers own breast milk, data collected from other types of studies suggest that mothers own breast milk is likely to have advantages over formula in terms of the babys growth and development. When a mothers breast milk is not available, formula is probably better than donor breast milk for preterm babies in terms of weight gain, linear growth and head growth but there may be little or no difference in terms of neuro-developmental disability, death or necrotising enterocolitis. Fortified human breast milk and preterm/term formula
Breast milk or formula alone may not be sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of some preterm infants. Fortification of breast milk or formula by adding extra nutrients is an approach often taken for feeding preterm infants, with the goal of meeting the high nutritional demand. High quality randomized controlled trials are needed in this field to determine the effectiveness of fortification.