Natasha, Jemma and Jade Williams with children Amani, T-Jay and Lita

The Williams sisters, who live with their mother in a council house in Derby, feature in a BBC3 documentary called Desperate Midwives.

Natasha, the oldest, Jade and Jemma, the youngest, are reported to receive £600 a week in benefits.

Their mother Julie Atkins, 38, who said the girls were too young and had ruined their lives, blamed schools for providing poor quality sex education.

Mother defiant

Jemma was first to give birth, to T-Jay in February last year, and weeks later Jade and Natasha discovered they were pregnant.

Natasha had daughter Amani in November and Jade followed with Lita in December. The younger sisters are still at school.

Mrs Atkins told the Sunday Mercury: "I don't care what people say about me. I blame the schools - sex education for young girls should be better."

The sisters feature in the BBC3 series Desperate Midwives: The real truth about childbirth, starting from 9pm on Monday.

Episode seven follows a midwife from the Derby City hospital as she helps the family prepare for the third child.

No going back

Mrs Atkins told the Sun that she still found it difficult to believe what had happened.

"They are still little girls and now they have babies of their own," she said. "But I don't care what people say, I love my kids and I'm here to help them.

"If I could turn back the clock, I would prefer them not to have children. Their education is so important."

Two of the girls are no longer in contact with their children's fathers.

Jemma is quoted in the Sun as saying: "I only told my boyfriend David, who was 14 at the time, but I didn't want to have an abortion.

"He was my first love but now I'm gutted because he doesn't want to have anything to do with me or T-Jay."