Baby who weighed same as a hamster home from hospital after five months

A baby who weighed just 9oz (258g) when he was born has left hospital after five months.

Ryusuke Sekino was delivered via caesarean section at 24 weeks and five days after his mother Toshiko suffered high blood pressure

But after five months in hospital in Japan, he can finally go home with his parents.

Mrs Sekino said: "Now I feel his weight on my arm. At the beginning, he was so light and I didn't feel a thing.

"I get to be able to bathe him and feed him with milk.

"I can feel he is getting bigger and I am so happy about it."

High blood pressure in pregnancy, referred to as gestational hypertension, occurs in about 6% of pregnancies and can develop into preeclampsia. Depending on the stage of pregnancy, it can lead to complications including poor fetal growth or stillbirth.

Takehiko Hiroma, a doctor at Nagano Children's Hospital where the baby was treated, said it had been a difficult job because of how small Ryusuke was.

He said: "His blood vessels were so thin, thinner than a needle.

"So, we worried the baby might not make it if we couldn't find a way to give him IV. To tell you the truth, we were so worried and having a hard time."

Ryusuke was 22cm (8.6in) long at birth on 1 October. He now weighs 7.4lbs (3.37kg).

According to University of Iowa records, the previous smallest surviving baby boy was 268g (9.5oz). He was also from Japan.

A German girl born in 2015 weighed 252g (8.9oz).