A newborn baby amazed doctors when it was delivered by C-section - while still floating peacefully in his amniotic sac.

The tot dubbed 'Bubble Boy' was delivered at 36 weeks, in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province in East China, at a healthy 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs).

He didn't breathe on his own for further two minutes until medics cut the baby out of his protective sac.

The doctors at the Fujian Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, decided to deliver the boy 'en caul' - which means still inside the amniotic sac - in an emergency late-preterm cesarean on July 16 this year. Doctors discovered the baby was in a breech position after the mother complained of abdominal pain and bleeding.

Doctor Pan explained: 'Newborns usually cry shortly after being born as their respiratory system is introduced to the new surroundings.

'But when this boy was born, still in his amniotic sac, it was as if he were still in his mother's womb.

'It was not until doctors opened the membrane and cleared the amniotic fluid from his respiratory system that he began to cry - a full two minutes later than normal babies.'

His mother, 36, was pregnant with the boy, after successful IVF treatment, however just weeks before her due date she began complaining of abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding.

Doctor Pan, who is head obstetrician at the facility, found that the fetus was in breech position - he would be born bottom first instead of head first.

He also had a condition known as a velamentous cord insertion, a condition where the umbilical cord does not attach in the centre of the placenta.

Instead it travels through the membrane, potentially causing complications including rupturing the cord's blood vessels.

Doctor Pan added: 'We opted for this procedure because preterm babies are weaker than full-term babies.

'As premature births are among the main reasons for infant mortality, an en caul birth allows the newborn to be delivered inside the same protective membrane.

'This reduces moisture loss on the skin, avoids rapid temperature loss after a preterm birth, and decreases the risk of the infant being harmed during a C-section.

'Even if an en caul delivery were unsuccessful, the baby could then be delivered via a traditional C-section, so it's just one more option to have.'

According to reports, the boy was the first child on record to be born en caul in the city of Fuzhou, after medics studied how to carry out the procedure and put their new skills to good use when the case called for it.

In the three months that followed, the hospital delivered 10 other children using the same procedure.