World's smallest ever baby boy weighs only 9oz

A baby boy born in Germany has become the world's smallest ever, weighing just nine ounces at birth.

The baby, who is said to be smaller than a can of coke, was born after just 25 weeks, and he was so little at birth that a tape measure laid next to his body was wider than his limbs.

Doctors in Germany had been convinced the baby, delivered by Caesarean section at the University of Medicine at Goettingen in June 2009, would not survive but refused to give up hope.

A spokesman for the university said that doctors were "extremely proud" of the boy and the parents were overjoyed.

"This was an incredible fight for life," Sky News Online quoted the spokesman as saying.

Now at eight months, medics have released a picture of the baby, who they are confident is strong enough to make it through.

The most premature baby to have survived, a girl born in Miami, America in 2004, is believed to have been born after 21 weeks.

Experts on medical ethics advise doctors not to resuscitate babies born before 23 weeks in the womb, and doctors do not expect babies weighing less than 12oz to survive.

More than 80,000 babies are born prematurely in Britain every year and half need to be treated in intensive care.