A girl who has given birth aged 11 is believed to be the youngest ever mother in the UK with a family unaware she was pregnant, according to reports.
The youngster, who was 10 when she became pregnant, gave birth earlier this month and both mother and baby are healthy, the Sun states.
Now social services are investigating the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy and speaking to her family who were unaware of the pregnancy, the newspaper adds.
A source told The Sun: ““It has come as a big shock. She’s now being surrounded by expert help. The main thing is that she and the baby are OK.
“There are questions around why people did not know. That is very worrying.”
The previous youngest mother is said to be Tressa Middleton when she gave birth in 2006, aged 12, but she was forced to give her up after confessing the child’s dad was her brother, who raped her.
Tressa Middleton was Britain’s youngest mum when she had a daughter in 2006
Tressa Middleton was Britain’s youngest mum when she had a daughter in 2006.
The record for youngest parents was a father aged 13 and mother, aged 12, when they had a child in 2014.
Puberty normally begins around 11 for girls but it can span from eight to 14, with weight playing a factor.
There is a higher risk of problems developing when younger children are pregnant including premature labour, infections and pre-eclampsia.
There was a reported case in 2017 of another girl in the UK giving birth aged 11 but no further details emerged.
Tressa Middleton was Britain’s youngest mum when she had a daughter in 2006
Tressa pictured with her second child Arihanna has said how happy she was after the problems with her first baby.
The youngest mum in the world was a Peruvian girl called Lina Media who was only five years and seven months old when she gave birth in May, 1939 to a boy called Gerardo.
Her parents thought she had a tumour but when she was taken to hospital, she was found to be seven months pregnant.