A teenage girl from Calgary who put her newborn son out with the garbage and then finished cooking dinner for her mother and her brother has been sentenced to a year's probation.

The girl, now 16, was charged last fall with failing to provide the necessities of life and abandoning a child under 10.

She had concealed her pregnancy from her family after breaking up with her boyfriend and went into labour while her younger brother was in a nearby room. Two hours after giving birth to the healthy, six-pound boy on Sept. 7, she wrapped him in bloody towels and left him in a garbage bag on the curb.

About two hours later, a woman out walking her dog found the baby. She had heard him crying from the pile of garbage bags waiting to be picked up the next morning.

The temperature had dropped to about 10 C by 8:30 p.m., and the newborn was suffering from mild hypothermia.

Youth court Judge Sharron Prowse O'Ferrall said Thursday that while the girl acted in a "cold and callous" way, she has shown remorse and is a low risk to reoffend.

Prowse O'Ferrall also said the community should forgive the girl and not treat her like an outcast. The girl has been home schooled since last fall, because of public backlash.

The teen, who is now raising her son with her mother, cried throughout the sentencing.

"I can tell you she's extremely relieved," her lawyer Jim Lutz said. "The matter's been dealt with now. She's happy to get it out of her way and looking forward to being a great parent."

In an agreed statement of facts, the girl said she feared her mother would want her to have an abortion.

At one point, she lied when her mother asked her if she was pregnant. The teen said she didn't want to put any more stress on her mother, who had just gone through a divorce from an abusive partner.

As part of her sentence, the girl must observe a curfew for the next three months, undergo counselling and take a parenting class.

The baby didn't suffer any long-term health effects.