How soon can a baby survive outside the womb ?

It is difficult to get a time at which a baby can survive outside the womb. Doctors now consider  22 weeks the earliest gestational age a baby is able to survive outside the womb. However you have to know extremely premature babies  faces a lot of medical problems and need a  great deal of medical attention. The closer a baby is to his  due date, the better his chances of being healthy and surviving.

At 26 weeks , the baby has a higher chance of survival without serious health issues. There are other factors that may influence a baby’s chances of survival and having long term complications. These include the following :

• maternal age and health
• genetic abnormalities such as down syndrome
• having pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia or placental abruption
• the baby’s sex ( girls have higher chances of survival than boys)
• whether the baby is singleton or multiples ( singleton babies have higher chance of survival)
• the birth weight of the baby