The Straits Times, January 7, 2010
A 17-YEAR-OLD here managed to keep her pregnancy a secret, despite living with her mother and two siblings.
The truth came out with the baby, who was born in the toilet of the family's flat in Aljunied on Dec 29.
In a daze post-delivery and afraid her mother would find out, the teenager put her newborn son in the washing machine, under a pile of clothes.
Her 43-year-old mother, who became suspicious upon seeing bloodstains on the toilet floor and on her daughter's blouse, followed her instincts and opened the lid of the washing machine.
There, the infant lay, quiet but bloody.
She immediately called the ambulance, which took her daughter and the baby to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said that when its officers went to the scene, the infant was wrapped in a towel on the kitchen floor, and had deep cuts on his neck and chest.
The baby is now in a stable condition in hospital; the teenager was discharged on Monday.
A Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports spokesman said that its Child Protection Services has taken charge of the child's welfare.
She added: ' In the course of investigation, the child may be placed in alternative safe care, such as under a relative's care or a foster home.'
The young mother, a second-year Institute of Technical Education student, is now staying temporarily at a girls' home. She is also assisting police in investigations.
Her bewildered mother - a single mum herself - told The Straits Times on Tuesday that she never once suspected her daughter, the youngest of her three children, was pregnant.
'She is naturally plump and she still wore her regular jeans, T-shirts...' said the factory worker of her 67kg, 1.62cm-tall daughter.
Thinking that her daughter had gained weight, she even bought her diet pills.
Recalling the morning the baby was found, she said her daughter spent a long time in the toilet, claiming she had a stomach ache because of her period. She also asked her mother for a sanitary pad.
The older woman said when she saw the blood and later found the baby, she was shocked.
'I screamed. My daughter was just standing there in a daze. There were some injuries on the baby,' she said, declining to elaborate.
She and her other daughter described the teenager as having many friends, although they said they did not know whether she has a boyfriend.
She said of her daughter: 'She's physically okay, but still in a daze and I can't face her now without thinking about what happened. I can't explain how I did not know my own daughter was pregnant.'
Under the Children and Young Persons Act, anyone found guilty of ill-treating a child or young person can be jailed up to four years or fined up to $4,000, or both.
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