During her second year of polytechnic, Ms Shanel Lim, then almost 18, took a pregnancy test with her then-boyfriend in a public toilet. When she saw the two lines on the test denoting a positive result, she broke down right there and then. "I just crashed out and cried," she said.Immediately, she made an appointment with a gynaecologist. That visit revealed that she was already approaching her third trimester. What worried her more than the impending arrival of a newborn was the timing. "I didn't want to add on to my already full plate," she said, citing family issues at home on top of her schooling. She worked up the courage to tell her parents, who were initially upset. However, her mother soon shifted focus to making sure Ms Lim was eating well and getting enough nutrients for the baby.As luck would have it, Ms Lim's estimated due date fell during her polytechnic holidays. She sat her exams two weeks before going into labour. After her one-month confinement, she went straight back to school – and quickly found herself struggling to balance education and childcare."The cost of raising a child really hit me like a truck," said Ms Lim. Milk powder and diapers were her two biggest expenses. As a single mother, Ms Lim was not entitled to the Baby Bonus, a government scheme that provides cash gifts and co-savings for married couples with children."Children of single parents are still children of Singapore," she said.She spent her remaining time in polytechnic picking up as many part-time retail shifts as she could outside of classes. To get the most bang for her buck, she also diligently tracked flash sales on Shopee, made her purchases in bulk and trawled Baby Expos for deals – although even those, she found, were not that much cheaper. Ms Lim is now 26, working as a pre-school teacher. She is concurrently pursuing a part-time degree in early childhood education.Looking back, she told CNA TODAY that motherhood has ultimately "focused" her. "It has pushed me to climb higher, get a better salary and provide my child with a better quality of life."According to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's Report on Registration of Births and Deaths 2024, 244 babies were born to mothers aged 19 and below in 2024. This is a 7 per cent increase from 228 the year before, and a 12 per cent rise from the 2022 number of 218 babies. The myriad challenges of teen motherhood, however, do not look the same for everyone.