A baby from Iowa, born at just 21 weeks of pregnancy, has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the most premature baby to survive. Nash Keen, who was born 133 days before his mother’s due date, recently celebrated his first birthday. His mother Mollie Keen said: “Nash is very determined, curious … and he’s just all smiles all the time.” His father, Randall Keen, told Guinness World Records: “Nash is going to be able to say, ‘You know what? I came into this world fighting, and I’m going to leave fighting.’” Nash was born on 5 July 2024 at the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital. He weighed only 10 ounces (around 283 grams), roughly the size of a bar of soap. His parents had already experienced a loss. Their daughter McKinley was born prematurely at nearly 18 weeks and did not survive. “When we became pregnant with Nash, we were excited but also very nervous,” Mollie told Guinness. “We didn’t get our hopes up.” For the first six months of his life, Nash stayed in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where he received continuous care and close monitoring. “We weren’t sure if he’d even survive those first critical hours,” Mollie said. “But we wanted to give him the best chance.” Dr Amy Stanford, a neonatologist who treated Nash, said he faced many challenges early on but managed to keep improving. “After those first few extremely delicate weeks, he began to make steady progress,” she told Guinness. Nash was allowed to go home in January to Ankeny, Iowa. At one year old, he still needs oxygen and uses a feeding tube, but his parents were hopeful he would soon try soft foods. Doctors are also monitoring a small heart condition, which they believe may improve on its own. He is not yet crawling but has started to roll over. Randall said that Nash is already showing his personality. “Whenever you call him ‘Nash potato’, or you cheer him on when he’s trying to pull himself up, he just hams it up,” he said. “It makes him want to succeed and do more.” Family and close friends recently gathered to mark Nash’s first birthday. He received new clothes, toys, nappies and a Guinness World Records certificate. Nash beat the previous record holder by just one day, a baby born in Alabama in 2020. “He’s truly the best thing that could have happened to us,” Mollie said to Guinness, quoted by The Guardian. “I love waking up to him.”
