SAN DIEGO — The smallest surviving baby in the world was released from a San Diego hospital after being born at just 8.6 ounces.
The baby, named Saybie, was born in December 2018 at 23 weeks, three days, making her a micro-preemie, according to Sharp Mary Birch Hospital officials. When she was released from the hospital this month, she weighed 5.6 pounds.
The father was told by doctors that he would have about an hour with his daughter before she passed away. “But that hour turned into two hours which turned into a day, which turned into a week,” the mother said in a video released by the hospital. Doctors said Saybie was delivered via ᴇᴍᴇʀɢᴇɴᴄʏ ᴄᴇsᴀʀᴇᴀɴ section in December at 23 weeks and three days gestation in the ᴡᴏᴍʙ after sᴇᴠᴇʀᴇ pregnancy ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs that put her mother’s life at risk.
A typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks. After nearly five months at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, Saybie was discharged home earlier this month weighing a healthy five pounds (2.2 kilograms) and sporting a graduation cap. “She is a miracle, that’s for sure,” said Kim Norby, one of the nurses who cared for Saybie as she fought to survive – with a sign by her crib that read “tiny but mighty” cheering her on.
Emma Wiest, another nurse, said Saybie was so tiny at birth that “you could barely see her on the bed.”
At birth, she weighed as much as a child’s juice box and could fit in the palm of the hands of her caretakers.
“I’d heard that we had such a tiny baby and it sounded unbelievable because I mean she’s about half of the weight as a normal 23-weaker,” Wiest said.
Although Saybie did not have any of the medical challenges typically associated with babies born before 28 weeks’ gestation — including lung and heart issues, and brain ʙʟᴇᴇᴅs — hospital staff didn’t immediately know whether the infant would survive.
Saybie went home in mid-May 2019 as a “happy, healthy” 5-pound infant.
Saybie’s ranking as the world’s tiniest baby ever to survive is according to the Tiniest Babies Registry, maintained by the University of Iowa. The previous record was held by a baby born in Germany in 2015 who weighed seven grams more than Saybie.
“Every life is a miracle – those that defy the odds even more so,” Edward Bell, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa who oversees the Registry, said.
Her status as the world’s smallest surviving newborn comes via the Tiniest Babies Registry, which is maintained by the University of Iowa. She weighed 7 grams less than the previous smallest baby, who was born in Germany in 2015, according to Sharp.
