WORLD'S SMALLEST!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 16, 9 April 1927, Page 13

WORLD'S SMALLEST!

N.Z.’S RECORD BABY WEIGHT UNDER TWO POUNDS TINY AUCKLAND CHILD New Zealand collects another world’s record—that of the smallest baby! Cabled from London yesterday was the news that Battersea had brought to light a child which weighed ; 21b 2oz and was 15 inches in length. I This is to introduce Miss Doreen ! Johnson, of Auckland. now nine i months old, who at birth weighed 21b i and who was only 144 inches in length a month afterwards. The record-breaking parents are Mr. and Mrs. D. Johnson, of Beckenham Avenue, Onelnmga, and neither of them is tall. Mrs. Johnson was very proud when she found that Doreen’s measurements were less than those of the South London child. Doreen’s picture appears in the pictorial section. Special precautions were taken after the arrival of Doreen. She was rtished up to the Karitane Home at Mount Albert and put in one of the lined cots, in the heated room. Four hot water bottles were used to keep life in the little body and the result is that the child is growing up healthy and strongly. When she was two weeks old Doreen had dropped in weight to lib loioz. At the end of the first month she was 21b 730 z in weight and 14?. inches in length. She was not measured at birth, so that her length was probably well under that of the alleged recordbreaking baby of Battersea. Now that she is nine months old Doreen weighs 101 b. She has -no ailments and in a few months she will probably have caught up to the weight of the average infant. THE REAL RECORDS But even Doreen cannot rank among the world’s record-holders, because the Ivaritane people have on record two infants who were well under 21b at birth. Christchurch once produced a baby which was so tiny that it turned the scale to only lib 12toz. Unfortunately, no details can be obtained. Then there is Miss Mavis McCurdy, of Dunedin, now a normal child of two years, who was only lib 13Scz when she was born. Karitane was responsible for the recovery. Another claim, which, however, must be put aside has come from a St. Albans mother who has written to THE SUN at Christchurch. She says that on August 16, 1916, she gave birth to a boy who weighed 21b 2oz and was only 11 inches long. The doctor declared that the infant would never live, but he is a lively 10-year-old to-day.