Baby born with twin growing inside her tummy

A baby girl born with a malformed twin growing inside her stomach has survived emergency surgery just 24 hours after her birth.

The small infant, called Itzamara, underwent the life-saving surgery to remove the foetus in the city of Barranquilla in Colombia.

Her twin was growing inside her tummy in its own amniotic sac, with an umbilical cord, bones and arms and legs, according to Colombian TV channel, Los Informantes.

It is believed the foetus did not have a brain or beating heart.

The baby’s mother, Monica Vega, told local media that doctors in La Merced detected something unusual inside her baby’s abdomen when she was almost seven months pregnant.

It is thought that this is the first time a case like this has been detected during pregnancy.

Doctor Miguel Parra said that similar occurrences have been discovered after a baby was born, but he believes this is the first time that it has been diagnosed prior to birth.

Monica told local media: ‘I have never heard of anything like this in my entire life. I really did not expect this to happen.’

Doctors made the decision to deliver the baby girl in the 37th week by caesarean, so that the foetus inside her would not continue to grow and potentially damage her organs.

Although the baby was successfully delivered and seemed healthy, Itzamara was immediately sent for an ultrasound to determine whether the foetus had affected other parts of her body.

The newborn was delivered successfully and is reportedly in a stable condition after undergoing surgery only 24 hours after being born to remove her malformed sibling.

According to local media, the situation occurs once in every 200,000 pregnancies.

If the embryo divides in the second week, the children will probably become conjoined twins.

But in this case, the embryo split after the 17th day.

Baby Itzamara is currently recovering in hospital and is said to be in a healthy condition.