Guinness World Record's most premature baby at 21-weeks of gestation celebrates his first birthday
Nash Keen was born on July 5, 2024 — 133 days earlier than the expected due date and weighing only 10 ounces (283 grams) -- about the size of a bar of soap. He spent the next six months in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital before he was allowed in January to go home to Ankeny, Iowa, with parents Mollie and Randall Keen.
'Nash is so full of personality. He's a happy baby,' Mollie Keen said Wednesday, adding that he's slept through most nights since coming home from the NICU. 'Being in the NICU as long as he was, you'd think that he would be, you know, more fragile and stuff. And he's not. He's a very determined, curious little boy, and he's just all smiles all the time.'
Nash is among the growing number of extremely premature infants who are getting lifesaving treatment and surviving. Upon reaching his first birthday, Guinness World Records declared Nash the world's most premature baby, beating out by a single day the organization's previous record holder born in 2020 in Alabama.
Nash's parents had already experienced the heartbreak of losing a baby when Mollie's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. That's when she learned of a medical condition she had that might make it difficult for her to carry to full term.
Mollie worried she and her husband might lose Nash, too, when she learned at her 20-week prenatal checkup that she was already 2 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 Mollie learned the neonatal team at Stead Family Children's Hospital was performing lifesaving measures on babies born at 21 weeks gestation. She went into labor days before that benchmark, but with medical help, she was able to stall the birth to exactly 21 weeks.
The next month was fraught with medical scares as an entire team of doctor's worked to keep Nash alive and thriving.
' One of the things I noticed about the medical team is that they were very calm,' she recalled. 'You 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 weren't freaking out, there was no reason for us to freak out.'
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. Still, when consulting with the Keens before the birth, she didn't sugarcoat Nash's chances at survival or the likelihood that he would face serious medical complications if he did survive.
'Ultimately, it is not me that lives with the outcomes of parents' decisions, so it is really important to me to have honest and open conversations with parents, so they feel fully informed to make the best decision for them and their family," Schaefer said.
While Nash 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.
"He's learning how to stand on his two feet, which is awesome," his mom said. 'He's got a lot of strength in those legs.'
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The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
World's most premature baby celebrates first birthday
An Iowa toddler who was born when his mother was less than five months pregnant isn't only the most premature baby recognized by Guinness World Records after recently turning one. As his mother, Mollie Keen, put it, Nash Keen is also 'very determined, curious … and he's just all smiles all the time' after surviving against what Guinness described as 'phenomenal odds'. 'Nash is going to be able to … say, 'You know what? I came into this world fighting,'' the boy's father, Randall Keen, said in an interview that Guinness published Wednesday. ''And I'm going to leave fighting.'' The organization's database of about 40,000 records has long inspired fascination from the public. And Nash's path to that database began on 5 July 2024, when he was born at the gestational age of exactly 21 weeks in the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's hospital in Iowa City. Nash's birth came 133 days ahead of Mollie's expected due date, based on a typical full-term pregnancy of 280 days, an article on said. His birth was the second time in less than two years that Mollie had given birth prematurely. She recounted how she and Randall lost their daughter, McKinley, after she was born at a gestational age of nearly 18 weeks. After the couple became pregnant with Nash, 'we were so excited, but also very nervous,' Mollie said. 'We didn't get our hopes up.' Nash weighed only 10 ounces (283 grams), which is about the size of a soap bar, when he was born. He had to spend the next six months in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before he was allowed to go home in January to Ankeny, Iowa. Mollie recalled to Guinness that she and Randall 'weren't sure if he'd even survive those first critical hours. But we wanted to give him the best chance.' The baby underwent 'highly specialized care, constant surveillance and frequent monitoring' while he faced a series of substantial 'challenges early on', Dr Amy Stanford – a neonatologist who helped care for Nash – told Guinness. Yet 'he showed remarkable resilience,' Stanford added. 'After those first few extremely delicate weeks, he began to make steady progress, which was truly extraordinary to witness.' As the Associated Press noted, Nash's story illustrates the growing number of extremely premature infants who are receiving life-saving treatment and surviving. Nash emerged from his NICU stay with as good an outcome as could be hoped for by medical science, as his doctors see it. At just over a year old, Nash still required oxygen to help him breathe, and he was nourished exclusively through a feeding tube. His parents had been preparing for him to try pureed foods. Nash's doctors were optimistic that a minor heart defect would resolve itself as he grew up. And he was not quite yet crawling, though he had started rolling over. None of those developmental realities had barred him from demonstrating his budding personality, Randall told Guinness. 'Whenever you call him 'Nash potato', or you cheer him on when he's trying to pull himself up … he just hams it up,' Randall said. 'It makes him want to succeed and do more.' A small gathering of family close friends joined Nash and his family to celebrate his first birthday. He was feted with new outfits, educational toys, diapers and the certificate from Guinness – now that he had beaten out by a single day the organization's previous most premature baby record holder, who was born in 2020 in Alabama. Mollie told Guinness she and Randall are as happy as Nash has been. 'I love waking up to him,' she remarked. 'He's truly … the best thing that could have happened to us.' AP contributed reporting
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Iowa boy born at 21 weeks is now the world's most premature baby
A little boy born at only 21 weeks of gestation has officially broken the record for the world's most premature baby. Nash Keen was born in Iowa City, Iowa, on July 5, 2024. That's 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 Children's 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. 'Nash is so full of personality. He's a happy baby,' his mother Mollie Keen said Wednesday. 'Being in the NICU as long as he was, you'd think that he would be, you know, more fragile and stuff. And he's not. He's a very determined, curious little boy, and he's just all smiles all the time.' 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 Mollie's 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. 'One of the things I noticed about the medical team is that they were very calm,' Mollie recalled. 'You 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 weren't freaking out, there was no reason for us to freak out.' 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. "He's learning how to stand on his two feet, which is awesome," his mother said. 'He's got a lot of strength in those legs.'
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
Guinness World Record's most premature baby at 21-weeks of gestation celebrates his first birthday
A baby born at only 21 weeks of gestation last July in Iowa City, Iowa, has just celebrated his first birthday, and among his gifts is a Guinness world record for most premature baby. Nash Keen was born on July 5, 2024 — 133 days earlier than the expected due date and weighing only 10 ounces (283 grams) -- about the size of a bar of soap. He spent the next six months in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital before he was allowed in January to go home to Ankeny, Iowa, with parents Mollie and Randall Keen. 'Nash is so full of personality. He's a happy baby,' Mollie Keen said Wednesday, adding that he's slept through most nights since coming home from the NICU. 'Being in the NICU as long as he was, you'd think that he would be, you know, more fragile and stuff. And he's not. He's a very determined, curious little boy, and he's just all smiles all the time.' Nash is among the growing number of extremely premature infants who are getting lifesaving treatment and surviving. Upon reaching his first birthday, Guinness World Records declared Nash the world's most premature baby, beating out by a single day the organization's previous record holder born in 2020 in Alabama. Nash's parents had already experienced the heartbreak of losing a baby when Mollie's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. That's when she learned of a medical condition she had that might make it difficult for her to carry to full term. Mollie worried she and her husband might lose Nash, too, when she learned at her 20-week prenatal checkup that she was already 2 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 Mollie learned the neonatal team at Stead Family Children's Hospital was performing lifesaving measures on babies born at 21 weeks gestation. She went into labor days before that benchmark, but with medical help, she was able to stall the birth to exactly 21 weeks. The next month was fraught with medical scares as an entire team of doctor's worked to keep Nash alive and thriving. ' One of the things I noticed about the medical team is that they were very calm,' she recalled. 'You 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 weren't freaking out, there was no reason for us to freak out.' 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. Still, when consulting with the Keens before the birth, she didn't sugarcoat Nash's chances at survival or the likelihood that he would face serious medical complications if he did survive. 'Ultimately, it is not me that lives with the outcomes of parents' decisions, so it is really important to me to have honest and open conversations with parents, so they feel fully informed to make the best decision for them and their family," Schaefer said. While Nash 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. "He's learning how to stand on his two feet, which is awesome," his mom said. 'He's got a lot of strength in those legs.'
