Peru’s “miracle baby” was seen walking without the help of a doctor, six months after her second operation to fully separate her legs.

Hilary Burke, Lima

Monte Hayes

Milagros Cerron smiles, babbles and fidgets in the arms of her mother like any healthy nine-month-old, but she is no ordinary baby.

A Peruvian medical team is preparing for a pioneering operation to separate the fused legs of a nine-month-old girl born with a rare condition known as sirenomelia, or “mermaid syndrome”.