A boy born weighing 750 grams, nearly four months early, is now 1 year and 10 months old and developing like other children his age, Burgas University Hospital said. Doctors in the hospital's neonatology unit saved his life after he was born.

He was born at the end of the fifth month of pregnancy. Almost two years ago, the team was fighting for his life. Now he is back in the unit with his parents, just for a check-up. He is growing, playing and exploring the world. For the doctors, what matters most is that he has come back alive, healthy and happy.

Dr Stiliyana Tomova, head of the unit, has followed the boy since he was born.

"The real success of our work is not just that a child survives, but that he or she lives without the complications and after-effects of premature birth," Dr Tomova said.

Until a few years ago, a birth this early sat on the line between "birth" and "abortion". Under the old medical standards, a baby weighing under 800 grams and born before the 26th week had to live at least three days to count as a live birth. Otherwise it was registered as an abortion. Today neonatologists, the doctors who treat newborns, can save such children, and they grow and develop normally.

The unit in Burgas is a level 3 unit, the highest level. This means it can treat and care for newborns with extremely low weight, severe prematurity and serious health problems. Doctors, midwives and nurses look after them.

The unit now has three more babies weighing under 1 kilogram. The hospital describes them as among its most seriously ill patients, and says every day is a test for them and for the team. They need constant monitoring, specialist equipment and great precision, because in babies this small even a slight change in condition can be decisive.

About 300 babies a year at Burgas University Hospital, nearly 20% of all newborns there, need specialist care because of prematurity, disabilities or other complications. Some of them stay in the unit for weeks or months before they are discharged.