The parents of a baby born with two tubes growing out of his face instead of a nose have been told by doctors that he is doing well and will soon look completely normal.

The baby boy, who has been named Angelito – meaning little angel or cherub – was born at the hospital of Caleta, in the city of Chimbote, in the west Peruvian province of Santa.

The boy’s mother Lorena Rodriguez Zavaleta, 20, and his unnamed father, are constantly at their newborn’s bedside.

The baby was transferred from his home in Nuevo Chimbote to the Hospital del Nino some 300 miles away in the Peruvian capital Lima where he will need to undergo an operation to treat the growths and give him a normal nose.

Paediatrician Jose Castillo said the unusual condition was the result of a very rare genetic deformity called Patau syndrome, which happens in just one in every 15,000 births.

He said that the baby is currently in a stable condition and is keeping down the food he is being given and that his heart and respiratory system are also working fine.

The hospital’s neonatal care boss Carlos Arrestegui Ramos said: ‘He doesn’t have difficulty breathing now, but he will need plastic surgery.’

He added that further tests would be needed to determine how else the boy’s mutation had affected his body.

The mayor of the Nuevo Chimbote district in Lima, Valentin Fernandez, has presented the young parents with a gift of nappies, milk and money to cover their stay in the capital whilst their newborn receives treatment.