The Guinness World Record Organisation has officially recognised an Alabama baby as the world’s most premature.

Born in July 2020, exactly a month after the world’s previous most premature baby, Curtis Zy-Keith Means was delivered at 21 weeks and 1 day (148 days) at 1pm on 5 July.

His original due date was 11 November. He weighted only 420g which is about the same as your average football.

His mum told Guinness World Records:

Despite incredibly low survival odds, Curtis responded well to treatment and grew stronger and stronger by the day.

Sadly, Curtis’ twin C’Asya Means did not respond to treatment the same way and passed away just a day after birth.

Thanks to developing medical technology, the point at which premature babies survive outside the womb is becoming earlier.

Decades ago, even a few years ago, it would be unthinkable that a baby would survive if born so prematurely.

In the UK, it’s legal to abort a baby up to 24 weeks in most circumstances and in cases where the child is thought to have a disability, abortion is legal up to birth.