Alabama Boy Sets Record as World's Youngest Premature Baby to Survive

On November 10, Guinness World Records announced that an Alabama baby had become the “world’s most premature baby” to survive.

Curtis Means was born at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital on July 5, 2020, at just 21 weeks and one day gestation, the university said. He weighed just 420 grams (14.8 ounces) at birth, according to Guinness World Records.

“Numbers show that babies born so young have little to no chances of survival,” Professor of Pediatrics Dr Brian Sims said. Curtis’s twin sister, C’Asya, did not survive, the hospital said. The babies’ chances of survival were below one percent, according to the university.

Curtis spent 275 days at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, and was discharged on April 6. “Being able to finally take Curtis home and surprise my older children with their younger brother is a moment I will always remember,” his mother, Michelle Butler, said. Credit: University of Alabama at Birmingham via Storyful