A schoolgirl who found out she was pregnant on her 15th birthday says she uses the money she makes from her TikTok videos to help fund her childcare. Saffron Kelly said she was "so shocked" when she found out about her pregnancy and has since accumulated over 400,000 followers on the social media app, saying she "wouldn't change anything for the world."
The teenager, who lives with her civil servant mum Helen, 49, and her 10-month-old baby daughter Ivy Mae, started posting videos online a month after giving birth.
What began as sharing photos of her baby soon evolved into day-in-the-life videos.
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Saffron, now 16, said she “struggles to pick” a favourite video she has created, but her most popular is an evening routine which has more than 23 million views.
“The video is of me doing a night-time routine on a school night. It shows me putting her down for the night and giving her a bath," she said.
When she found out the video had gone viral, she said: “I just couldn’t believe it, it was amazing.”
Saffron explained the general reaction to her posts: “Some people completely disagree with me being a young mum; I think it might be because of how they were brought up or something. But others can be really supportive.”
Helen, who became a grandmother when she was 43 when Saffron’s sister fell pregnant at 17, was “absolutely devastated” when Saffron told her she was pregnant, but now says her granddaughter gives her “so much joy” every day.
At first, she was unsure if she would keep her baby, until she began bleeding at nine weeks.
Saffron, who is in a relationship with Ivy Mae's dad, engineering technician Jake Mercer, 16, said: “I thought I had lost Ivy, and they had to do a scan, and I saw her on the screen. I think from that moment, I kind of knew I was going to keep her – I couldn’t cope with the thought of losing her.”
The teenager says she finds leaving her daughter when she goes to school difficult, and that she hopes to do a business apprenticeship when she finishes her GCSEs.
Saffron says she is “grateful” that she can afford childcare while she is at school through her TikTok content – her most watched video has more than 23 million views and she has made around £2,000 so far.
She said: “I get money from TikTok, so that’s like a way that I get paid, and Jake has a job as well. I can see a really good future with Ivy-Mae and Jake."
When Ivy-Mae was four months old, Saffron returned to school full-time, saying: “I find it really hard to leave her in the mornings, but I have to think I’m going to school for her.
“I’m getting on really well at school – I’m still on track for my predicted grades.”
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