When baby Eli was born on March 4 in South Baldwin Hospital, Alabama, US, mother Brandi McGlathery says, “I pulled back and said, ‘Something’s wrong!’ And the doctor said, ‘No, he’s perfectly fine.’ Then I shouted, ‘He doesn’t have a nose!’”’

Eli doesn’t have an olfactory cavity, and cannot smell. He had a tracheotomy to help him breathe, and thus doesn’t cry, either.

Eli, was born with an extremely rare condition called complete congenital arhinia. There are thought to be just 37 babies in the world with the condition, and the odds against it are 197 million to one.

Born without a nose: mom says he’s “perfect”

Eli‘s father Troy Thompson had joked before the baby was born, “I hope he doesn’t get my nose,” according to local news site AL.com.