Iowa boy born at 21 weeks is now the worldโs most premature baby
A little boy born at only 21 weeks of gestation has officially broken the record for the worldโs most premature baby.
Nash Keen was born in Iowa City, Iowa, on July 5, 2024. Thatโs 133 days, or around 19 weeks, earlier than his expected due date. He weighed just 10 ounces at birth.
The infant spent the next six months in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Childrenโs Hospital before he was allowed to go home with his parents Mollie and Randall Keen, in January.
After celebrating his first birthday this month, Nash officially received the Guinness World Record for most premature baby, beating the organization’s previous record holder born in 2020 in Alabama by just one day.
โNash is so full of personality. Heโs a happy baby,โ his mother Mollie Keen said Wednesday. โBeing in the NICU as long as he was, youโd think that he would be, you know, more fragile and stuff. And heโs not. Heโs a very determined, curious little boy, and heโs just all smiles all the time.โ
Nash is among a growing number of extremely premature infants who are getting lifesaving treatment and surviving.
His parents had already experienced the heartbreak of losing a baby when a first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Mollie discovered she had a medical condition that may make it difficult for her to carry a baby to full term.
After becoming pregnant with Nash, the Keens learned at Mollieโs 20-week prenatal checkup that she was already two centimeters dilated. Doctors don’t typically try to perform lifesaving measures for babies born before 22 weeks gestation as most born that young can’t survive.
But with medical help she was able to stall the birth to exactly 21 weeks.
โOne of the things I noticed about the medical team is that they were very calm,โ Mollie recalled. โYou never really saw them, like, get anxious or anything. And so we kind of just learned to, like, watch them. And if, you know, if the doctors and the nurses werenโt freaking out, there was no reason for us to freak out.โ
Dr. Malinda Schaefer, a high-risk obstetrician who delivered Nash just hours after he surpassed the 21-week mark, described his birth as a new frontier in maternal fetal medicine.
While the boy has experienced some complications and developmental delays common to those born extremely prematurely, his progress has been as good as medical science could hope for, his doctors say.
At just over a year old, Nash remains on oxygen to help him breathe and is fed solely through a feeding tube, although he’s preparing to try pureed foods. He also has a minor heart defect, which his doctors believe will resolve itself as he gets older.
He’s not yet crawling, but he is rolling over.
“Heโs learning how to stand on his two feet, which is awesome,” his mother said.
โHeโs got a lot of strength in those legs.โ
