The parents of Charlotte Wyatt, a severely brain-damaged baby, said today that they will appeal against a judge's decision to back an order preventing the infant's resuscitation if she stops breathing.

Darren and Debbie Wyatt said they were "very unhappy" with Mr Justice Hedley's ruling, which accepted the argument of Charlotte's medical staff, who believe that if she survived a major crisis her life would be intolerable.

Doctors at St Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth won the legal right last October not to resuscitate Charlotte, now 18 months old, after arguing that her brain, lungs and kidney were so seriously damaged that she had "no feeling other than continuing pain".

Charlotte weighed just 1lb and measured only five inches when she was born three months prematurely in October 2003.

The judge said that he was delighted Charlotte had survived the winter, confounding predictions she was bound to succumb to a respiratory infection.

But he added that Charlotte’s chronic respiratory disease was still expected to be fatal and her neurological condition was as bad as it could be.

Her head was still the size of a new-born baby and there had been no brain growth. Fed continuously through a tube, she was seriously undernourished.

Outside the High Court today Mr and Mrs Wyatt stood alongside their solicitor, Richard Stein, who said that the Wyatts were pleased the judge has recognised that Charlotte’s condition has changed significantly and continues to improve.

"The judge is clearly concerned about the uncertainty of her future. He has ordered that the case be kept under review and allowed Darren and Debbie to appeal to the Court of Appeal, which is something they greatly welcome," he said. Mr Justice Hedley will review the case again, probably in October.

The judge said that relations between the parents and the hospital were very fragile. When Mr Wyatt visited, he was accompanied at all times by a member of the security staff. This "does not betoken harmonious relationships", he said.

Mr Justice Hedley said that if a crisis arose, the case would have to return to court because the parents and the doctors were unlikely to agree.

He pointed out that the Portsmouth hospital did not have the necessary intensive care facilities and, if none were available at Southampton, a country-wide search would have to be conducted.

"No-one would ever willingly put a child through that if no purpose was to be served and it is easy to see that it is inconsistent with a peaceful death," the judge said.

Charlotte’s grandmother Julie Wyatt, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, said today she did not believe doctors should resuscitate her granddaughter if she stopped breathing.

Mrs Wyatt told BBC WM radio: "I don’t think she would grow up to be a perfectly healthy child. I think she would be a lot of work for the parents. "The hospital is not withholding any treatment at all and I do believe that if they don’t resuscitate her, it is for Charlotte’s best interests, to be quite honest."

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