The mother of a baby born at just 29 weeks is hopeful a feeding centre can help her son avoid surgery.

Henry Dryburgh is now 18 months old and has defied all odds to survive despite being unable to eat solid foods.

His mother Lauren Knight, from Alford, Aberdeenshire, was first told there might be something wrong with her baby when she was just eight weeks pregnant.

Ms Knight and her partner were informed Henry had a one-in-five chance of being born with Down's Syndrome.

An amniocentesis test was carried out and the results came back negative.

Doctors then noted her fetus was quite small and sent off tests for dwarfism but those also came back negative.

At just 29 weeks, Ms Knight was brought into hospital to be induced, with doctors concerned for her and Henry's safety.

When Henry was born, he weighed just 1lb 9oz. He had stopped growing at 23 weeks old and his parents were warned he most likely would not survive.

Ms Knight said: "I didn't know babies could even be that tiny. You couldn't even make out facial features or anything. He was just so small and bright red."

Henry started to deteriorate soon after the birth and was placed on a ventilator for seven weeks which caused issues including chronic lung disease.

Now, the family is working with No Tube, a centre that works with families to wean children off feeding tubes, to try to start Henry on solids.

Ms Knight said: "No one has seen these sort of things we're seeing with Henry before. They don't have the time to work one-on-one for such intensive therapy.

"We've got every hope that No Tube will work. Speaking to some of the other mums, it seems like the miracle cure we need to get Henry eating."

The alternative would mean Henry will have to undergo surgery to have a permanent feeding tube inserted.

His mother has high hopes it will work, Henry having challenged and overcome all expectations so far.