The mum of the miracle baby who survived after being flushed down a loo claimed she was abandoned by his dad after she became pregnant following a one-night stand.
The mum said she gave birth unexpectedly and she raised the alarm after trying and failing to stop him falling down the sewage pipe.
The newborn boy, identified only as Baby 59 after his hospital incubator, was found in the four inch wide pipe at a rundown block of flats in Jinhua, eastern China.
Rescuers were alerted after his cries were heard from the plumbing system and it took them two hours before they could free him by cutting an L-shaped section of piping.
The unnamed woman, aged 22, said she told her landlord about “kitten like” sounds but initially did not admit to being the mother because of her shame.
Covered in excrement and with his placenta still attached, the 6lb 2oz tot was taken to hospital where he was initially feared to be suffering from a fractured skull.
However, despite his ordeal, he only had minor abrasions and was otherwise unharmed.
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Baby flushed down the toilet
The baby’s mother claimed that she was unmarried, could not afford an abortion and had to keep her pregnancy secret from family and friends.
A police officer involved in the case said: “The girl told the landlord she had heard a kitten like sound in the fourth floor squat toilet.
"The landlord later called the police and fire fighters for help.”
He added: “The woman said she felt too embarrassed to call the police herself as a single mother and feeling under pressure.
"Girls like her are easy targets for public criticism.”
She claimed she had had sex with a man but did not realise she was pregnant until early January.
She also claimed she hid her pregnancy by wearing loose clothes.
Police said she then claimed to have given birth to her son on the toilet but he slipped into the sewer after she tried to catch him.
The officer added: “The mother is sick with a high fever. Her parents are now with her at the hospital.
"Who will care for the baby is yet to be decided.”
China’s Xinhua state news agency said that she went to work in a restaurant after the baby was rescued and only admitted the child was hers when questioned by police.
Another unnamed police officer told the agency: “The woman was on the scene during the entire rescue process and admitted she was the mother when we asked her.
“We need further investigations to find out if she had any malicious intentions.”
Officials at the Pujiang People’s hospital described the baby’s condition as “good” and confirmed he was ready to be discharged.
Nurse Zhang Songhe said the mother was with her child and added: “I don’t know the reason she abandoned the baby.
"We’re going to take care of the baby.”
Dozens of people turned up at the hospital today with nappies, powdered milk and baby clothes.
The images of his dramatic rescue were flashed around the world and the authorities in China have been inundated with offers to adopt him.
It also captivated users on China’s Sina Weibo - their equivalent of Twitter - with one woman saying: “Seeing the little one wriggling and groaning as the pipe was torn apart bit by bit wrings my heart ... You’ve lived through the hardest moment in your life and your future will definitely be smooth,”
Examples of babies being abandoned in China are far from rare, particularly in the light of the country’s strict one child per couple rule in urban areas. Couples in rural areas can have two babies - but only if the first child is a girl.
In other cases, baby girls are abandoned by their parents because they prefer to have boys.
Single mothers are rare in China because children born out of wedlock are not given a resident’s permit which means they do not have access to education or health care.
