World's smallest baby boy born in Japan to go home after seven months in hospital

The world's smallest baby, who was born weighing as much as an apple, is now ready for the outside world. 

Ryusuke Sekiya was born in Japan in October via emergency Caesarean section, after 24 weeks and five days of pregnancy as his mother Toshiko experienced hypertension, the Daily Mail reports.

At 258 grams (9.1 ounces) he was even lighter than the previous record holder, another Japanese boy who weighed just 268 grams when he was born last year. That baby was discharged from a Tokyo hospital in February.

When Ryusuke was born on October 1, 2018, he measured 22 centimetres (8.66 inches) tall, and medical staff kept him in a neonatal intensive care unit.

They used tubes to feed him, sometimes taking cotton swabs to apply his mother's milk to his mouth.

Nearly seven months later, the boy has grown by around 13 times his weight, now coming it at over three kilogrammes.