The infant is undergoing cancer treatment that is likely to leave him infertile. His parents hope that once he reaches adulthood, doctors will transplant the stem cells back to allow him to produce sperm.
The breakthrough in America could give the infant the chance to have a family, but raises ethical questions because a baby is unable to give consent to such a procedure.
Until now, doctors in Britain and America have offered fertility treatment to boys only once they reach puberty, when they are first able to provide a sperm sample which is frozen for later use.
However, doctors now believe they can act much earlier by removing the stem cells which make sperm. The cells are present in babies from birth, but are relatively few in number so scientists are developing techniques to encourage the cells to multiply in the laboratory.
They plan to transplant the cells back into the boys when they reach adulthood or even stimulate the cells to develop into sperm in the laboratory, allowing patients to go through routine IVF treatment later.
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