THREE little triplets from Bolton gave a teenage couple the chance to experience "extreme parenting" first hand.

Toddlers Adam, Callum and Emily Gordon will feature in a TV show next week which aims to prove to would-be teenage parents that caring for youngsters is far from child's play.

The programme-makers hope to show teenagers how challenging bringing up children can be.

For the triplets' mum and dad, Ian and Lorraine Gordon, of Moorside Avenue, Smithills, it was a chance to take a well-earned break from constantly caring for the two-and-a-half year-olds.

They also saw how the triplets reacted to a change in their routine when cared for by London teenagers Jo and Hannah, both aged 19.

"Looking after triplets is extreme parenting," said Lorraine, aged 32.

The family travelled to Newquay in September last year to film The Baby Borrowers on Holiday, a BBC3 programme which gives teenagers the chance to experience looking after a child in a holiday situation.

The triplets were picked to appear in the show after dad, Ian, aged 36, spotted a request for families to take part.

"We thought it would be fun and it was," said Lorraine.

The couple, who went to Cornwall with the triplets and older daughter Megan, aged seven, were able to keep in touch with Jo and Hannah through CCTV if they felt they needed to intervene.

The teenagers had a nanny on hand and cared for the triplets in a beach apartment. They had to get up with the children in the night, feed and play with them, take them out in a buggy and change nappies.

Lorraine said: "The triplets were brilliant. When we first left them, they were a bit upset for the first half-hour but after that they were fine.

"It was great to watch the teenagers manage to get Adam and Emily down to sleep at 7.30pm, but it took them another two hours to get Callum down."

She said Jo and Hannah had coped well but they were a little shell-shocked.

"They said they didn't know how we coped looking after the triplets every day," said Lorraine.

Hannah hopes to be a teacher and Jo, a male model, has not settled on his career yet.

He said it was interesting taking part in the programme and described looking after the Gordon triplets as "seriously hard work".

Jo said: "I didn't shower in four days. When they were finally all asleep, I was so exhausted I didn't want to do anything other than collapse."

Hannah added: "Going out was especially hard. We took them to a farm and it was hard sitting down to eat."

  • The Baby Borrowers on Holiday runs from next Monday until next Friday on BBC3 at 10.30pm. The triplets will be on Thursday's show.

MUM'S BIG SHOPPING LIST

HERE'S what the Gordon triplets get through:

  • A loaf of bread a day
  • A bag of potatoes every time Lorraine makes mash for tea
  • Several boxes of washing powder each week as the washing machine is on four or five times a day
  • A litre of milk a day just for the triplets
  • Not as many nappies now as Adam and Emily are potty-trained, but they would have gone through 300 nappies a month when the film was made
  • A couple of tins of baked beans at tea-time