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Baby born with a full head of Elvis-style ginger hair Last updated at 18:07pm on 6th September 2007
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Every first-time parent hopes their new-born will attract admiring glances.
But adorable as she is, little Katie-Lee Webster receives attention for only one reason - her spectacular shock of ginger hair.
At only ten weeks old, she already has the flowing locks of a child several times her age, and her parents are getting used to looks of disbelief.
Red alert: Katie-Lee needs her ginger hair cut after just 10 weeks
"Most people when they see a baby say 'Isn't she cute'," said her mother, Stephanie Pleasance. "When people see her, they say 'Look at her hair!'"
Katie-Lee's father, Danny Webster, added: "No-one we've met has ever seen anything like it - we're forever being stopped in the street and asked 'Is that a wig?'"
Both her parents entered the world almost completely bald, but their first child has had her extraordinary head of hair since day one, and since then it has grown and grown, reaching three inches or more.
"Katie-Lee had hair when she arrived, lots of it," said Miss Pleasance, of Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.
"I was quite surprised when I compared it to all the others in the hospital.
"The hairdresser I go to said to me it won't be long before she's doing Katie-Lee's hair too."
Shocked: Parents Steph Pleasance and Danny Webster with their ten-week-old daughter Katie-Lee Webster
The couple, of Ashton under Lyne, Greater Manchester, reckon she could be Britain's hairiest baby.
Steph, who didn't have hair when she was born, said: "Katie-Lee had hair when she arrived, lots of it.
"I was quite surprised when I compared it to all the others in the hospital.
"People will come up to me if I'm in a shop and they say they've seen her from the other side of the shop and had to come over to see her."
It's the first grandchild for granddad John Webster.
He said: "It shocked me the first time I saw her.
"I went up to the hospital when I came out of work and looked at her and said, blimey look at that hair."
Steph added: "The hairdresser I go to said to me it won't be long before she's doing Katie-Lee's hair."
However she has no plans to deprive her of her crowning glory for the time being and instead has bought hair clips to keep it under control.
Mr Webster, a print worker, is himself a redhead, although his hair is currently cropped short, so there is no mystery as to where his daughter gets it from.
"Yes, it's from my side of the family," he said. "As long as she's got a hat on, she's treated like any other baby, but as soon as we take it off, everyone starts staring."
According to an old wives' tale, heartburn during pregnancy means a baby is more likely to turn out hairy, but scientists recently found evidence to suggest this is actually true.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. interviewed 64 pregnant women to find out about their experiences.
They found that 23 out of 28 who reported moderate or severe heartburn gave birth to babies with average or above average amounts of hair, while 10 out of 12 who did not have any heartburn had babies with less than average or no hair.
Having such a head start in the hair department does not just lead to a few heads being turned, however - it can also lead to trouble at the passport office.
Earlier this year the Daily Mail told how Kate Lurie had been told her four-month-old daughter Eden's hair was too long and spiky when she went to have her photograph taken at a pharmacy in Manchester.
Staff had to give her a virtual haircut on a computer so she did not fall foul of guidelines.
That child is gonna have a tough life because of the red hair. Hey, we had this topic on here before when you posted about a UK teenager and the whole family had to move because she got bullied so much, remember?
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