SINGAPORE – An incredible story and, for once, a happy ending. It is that of Kwek Yu Xuan, the smallest baby in the world at birth, born after 25 weeks of pregnancy: when she was born she weighed just 212 grams, about the size of an apple, for 24 centimeters in length. Now, after thirteen months of treatment, she has been discharged from the National University Hospital (Nuh) in Singapore. And she weighs 6.3 kg.
Kwek Yu Xuan was born with an emergency cesarean almost four months earlier than expected after her mother was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a dangerous rise in blood pressure which can damage vital organs and be fatal to both mother and baby. At the National University Hospital (Nuh) in Singapore, doctors said at the time that the girl had a “limited chance of survival”, but today they admit that “against all odds and despite a series of health complications present at birth, she inspired people around her with her perseverance and will to live, which makes her an extraordinary child of the Covid-19 era, a ray of hope in the midst of the turmoil “.
Yu Xuan still suffers from chronic lung disease and will also need breathing aids at home. However, Nuh doctors say she should improve over time. Yu Xuan’s parents were able to pay for her long hospital stay thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that raised the equivalent of $ 270,601. The girl’s mother, Wong Mei Ling, thanked the doctors, saying they treated Yu Xuan “like one of the family”. Even after her discharge, the woman remained in close contact with the hospital staff through video calls and daily chats to monitor the child’s condition.
Mei Ling, Inquirer.net reports (here the article), told local media that Yu Xuan’s birth and size had come as a shock because her first child, a four-year-old, was delivered at full term. “She was so small that even the calculation for the drug had to be reduced to a comma”, the doctors added. Yu Xuan’s skin was so fragile and thin that it was difficult to put probes on her to monitor her condition. Leave a probe for too long time would cause hard-to-heal wounds, with the risk of infection.
Not only that: a baby diaper was too big for her and covered her whole body. So the care team, after searching in vain for suppliers who could bring suitable diapers, decided to reshape the diapers, cutting them to size for little Yu Xuan. That of the Singapore girl is a real world record: according to the Tiniest Babies Registry, managed by the University of Iowa, before Kwek Yu Xuan, the record as the smallest child in the world belonged to an American baby girl who at birth, in 2019, weighed 245 grams. Yu Xuan, with her 212 grams, beat it. She is the strongest apple in the world.
In the image above, taken from Facebook, the little girl assisted by doctors