Bristol triplets set Guinness World Records for most premature birth and lightest combined weight

Triplets born in February 2021 at just 22 weeks and five days have been awarded two Guinness World Records. Rubi-Rose, Payton Jane and Porscha-Mae Hopkins were born with a total weight of 1,284g (2lbs and 13oz). One of their world records is for the lightest total weight for triplets, while the other is for being the most premature triplets ever recorded. Rubi-Rose was born first at 467g (1lb), while Payton Jane and Porscha-Mae were born nearly two hours later at 402g (0.89lbs) and 415g (0.91lbs).

Michaela White, the triplets’ 32-year-old mother from Bristol, said the two years since their birth has been “stressful” for her and her partner Jason Hopkins. Ms White said “the day of the birth was quite traumatic” after being moved from St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol to Southmead, where she went into labour. The triplets were rushed into incubators and swaddled in polythene wrapping to act as their mother’s womb and regulate their body temperature.

All three babies were required to breathe independently for 10 seconds before doctors could intervene with oxygen. Each child was taken into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and remained there for 216 days. The triplets were born with cerebral palsy. Rubi-Rose has a mild form of the disorder while Payton Jane and Porscha-Mae have mobility issues and are tube-fed.

Ms White said the process of caring for disabled children is “very, very hard”. “It can be quite challenging at times with all the appointments, the people coming in your house and doing physio with the girls on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “It can be really challenging for anyone with disabled children, but me and my partner, Jay, just crack on and do what we need to for them.” The couple has used social media to document their journey, earning them more than 10,000 followers on TikTok as @hopkinstribe.

This case is a reminder of the risks of multiple pregnancies, the complications a premature birth can cause, and the importance of access to neonatal care. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), preterm birth is the leading cause of death in children under the age of five years. The WHO also finds that the burden of preterm birth disproportionately affects low and middle-income countries, with almost 90% of preterm births occurring in Africa and South Asia. As reported by the BBC, the UK has one of the highest preterm birth rates in Europe, with about 60,000 babies born prematurely every year. However, advancements in neonatal care have led to an improvement in survival rates for premature babies.

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