AN 11-month-old baby girl yesterday underwent a successful five-hour operation to remove 12 needles that had been stuck into her body, doctors said.

Surgeons at the Beijing Children’s Hospital removed 10 syringe needles and two sewing needles, the Beijing Times reported.

Doctor Hou Dawei said that the little girl, nicknamed Zixuan, is expected to leave hospital in a week.

On hearing that the operation had been a success, Zixuan’s relieved mother, Liu Yuxiang, burst into tears.

Doctors had warned the family, from Liaocheng City in east China’s Shandong Province, that some needles were close to Zixuan’s internal organs, the Legal Evening News reported.

While her daughter was in theater, Liu waited on the stairs. When a relative suggested she go for a walk, Liu said, “I want to wait for her.”

It was Liu who discovered needles had been pushed into her daughter’s body.

She said Zixuan began crying more frequently from July, though the family thought nothing of it.

But when bathing her recently, Liu discovered and removed three sewing needles and one syringe needle stuck into the child.

A scan showed another 12 needles pushed into her buttocks, pelvis and abdomen.

On Saturday, police said the girl’s aunt, 26-year-old Liu Hongyun, had been identified as a suspect.

However, she had committed suicide the previous day by taking pesticide.

Liu Yuxiang told the Legal Evening News that she couldn’t believe that Liu Hongyun was responsible. “It’s impossible that her aunt would harm her,” she said.

The family dismissed speculation linking the abuse to a traditional belief that this helps ensure that a family’s next child is a boy.