Miraculous Milestone Reached By World’s Most Premature Baby

The world’s most premature baby, who set a Guinness World Record being born at 21 weeks, has defied the odds and reached his 1st birthday.

“Doctors initially gave Nash Keen zero chance of survival when he was born 133 days early,” Fox News stated.

Keen was born on July 5th, 2024, at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, to mom Mollie Keen and dad Randall Keen.

Guinness World Records recognized Keen as the world’s most premature baby to survive.

World’s most premature baby defies all medical odds to reach 1st birthday https://t.co/F1nFI2YpGx pic.twitter.com/Fq5TMdPYj0

— New York Post (@nypost) July 28, 2025

Fox News has more:

Earlier this month, Nash — affectionately nicknamed “Nash Potato” — turned 1 year old, defying all odds.

When he was born at the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Nash weighed just 285 grams (10 ounces) at birth — less than a grapefruit — and measured 24 centimeters long, according to a press release from the hospital.

Two years before Nash’s premature birth, the Keens lost a baby girl, McKinley, at 18 weeks gestation.

At that time, Mollie Keen was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix, which is when the lower part of the cervix begins to open (dilate) too early, typically in the second trimester, the release shared.

She also suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that can cause fertility difficulties.

Six months after their loss, the Keens found out another baby was on the way.

“When we went to our local doctor’s office for the 20-week scan for Nash, I just had some concerns about how I was feeling, so I asked them to look at me closer — which they normally don’t do at that appointment — and they found I was already 2 centimeters dilated,” Mollie Keen said.

A few days later, she began having contractions and was placed on bed rest.

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A baby born at 40 weeks is considered full term.

Babies are considered premature if born under 37 weeks and a micro-preemie if born before 26 weeks.

Keen spent six months in the neonatal intensive care unit before being declared healthy enough to go home.

DEFYING THE ODDS: Born 133 days early and weighing less than a can of soda, Nash Keen spent 198 days in the NICU. Doctors gave him zero chance of survival—but now he’s thriving as the new @GWR holder for most premature baby. pic.twitter.com/fbErGZliEf

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 28, 2025

The Guardian shared additional details:

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.”

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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 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.