Toilet Pipe Baby's Mother In Hospital

A mother whose newborn baby was rescued from a toilet pipe is reportedly in hospital "on the edge of mental collapse".

The woman has been subjected to significant public pressure since she gave birth while sitting on a toilet and her baby became stuck in the sewer system.

As the 5lb (2.3kg) boy was cut from the four-inch (10cm) wide pipe, the woman, who raised the alarm, did not initially come forward to say she was his mother.

She subsequently told police that she had tried desperately to save the child and stop it from slipping into the pipe at her apartment in Jinhua, eastern China, but had failed.

The rescue made headlines around the world but earned the 22-year-old, who is single and had hidden her pregnancy, a lot of criticism.

Baby 59, who was named after the incubator number in which he was placed at Pujiang People's Hospital, has fully recovered from the two-hour ordeal and is now living with his grandparents.

The grandfather, who collected the child from the hospital on Thursday, told the Modern Gold Daily newspaper that his daughter had "suffered a lot because of public pressure" and had not had sufficient time to recover from giving birth.

He told the newspaper: "Now the baby is healthy and carrying on with its life the entire family thanks everyone for their help, along with those who cared for the child. We will use all our love to protect the baby as it grows older.

"We ask society to give our family a quiet living environment."

Police have found the man that the mother claims is the father of the child but would need to carry out a DNA test to confirm paternity.

Policeman Zhang Jianbo told the state-run China News Network: "Although the mother says she has found the father, we need to be sure … he is not sure if he is the father, and requested a DNA test.

"He said that if the baby was his he would take responsibility for it."

Despite early speculation that the baby was flushed down the toilet on purpose, police said that he fell into the pipe by accident, and that the mother will not face prosecution as she did not drop him on purpose.

Chinese babies born out of wedlock are sometimes abandoned because of social and financial pressures.

The country's one-child policy can also mean heavy fines for couples who have more than one baby.