A teenage girl who has become Britain’s youngest mother of shock triplets has said it was the ‘best thing’ she had ever done. Natalie Scanlan, from Stalybridge, gave birth to three identical daughters – Ellie, Lillie, and Maddie, in April last year.
She fell pregnant before going on holiday to Tenerife with her 19-year-old boyfriend. After thinking she had come down with food poisoning on the island, she returned home, saw her doctor, and found out she was expecting. But it was not until she had a scan two months later that the 16-year-old found out she was having sʜᴏᴄᴋ triplets.
She said, “It was a sʜᴏᴄᴋ that we were having one baby, never mind three. But when it sank in, I decided I was just going to go ahead with it.”
Natalie had three baby daughters, and they all now live in a two-bed council house.
The 17-year-old, whose family helps out with money and childcare, said, “I don’t have as much freedom as I used to have and I can’t do what I want to do all the time. Now I have to do whatever the babies want. I’d like to get a job, but it’s difficult to locate one that works with my schedule.”
“You’ll only see them for an hour a day if they go to bed at 7 p.m. and you come home at 6 p.m. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a baby while you’re young, but you must understand that it will put a stop to your life as well as everyone else’s,” she added.
Natalie’s mother, Sarah, who became pregnant at the age of 16, said life can be difficult for Natalie when she isn’t in the mood to feed or change her children. Sarah said, “She’s only 17 but she’s got this big responsibility. She should be young, free, and single and enjoying her life.”
