One of the world's smallest toddlers.

When little Charlotte Garside was born she had to be dressed in dolls clothes.

Just 25cm long and weighing in at 530 grams, she was tinier than a teddy bear and too small for even premature baby clothes.

Now two years old and 56cm tall, the youngster is currently the world's smallest girl, and doctors predict she will never grow to 60cm.

Charlotte has a rare form of primordial dwarfism that affects only 100 people in the world, the UK Mirror reports.

Primordial dwarfism is a genetic disorder that delays growth before and at birth, often causing a low birth weight, and small head and eyes.

However Charlotte's symptoms have reportedly never been seen together in one person, making it difficult for experts to give her particular condition a name.

"We've had so many tests and so many results, but so far all we know is that she has some type of primordial dwarfism - the Charlotte kind," her mother Emma Newman told the UK Mirror.

"We have spent a long time trying to find out what makes her different and what we can to do help her."

Ms Newman has described how she seemed to have a normal pregnancy with Charlotte – similar to that of her other three normally developing sisters – and that her condition was not discovered until her birth in 2007.

It was then that doctors diagnosed her with Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism (MOPD), a genetic condition that Ms Newman and her partner Scott found out they both carried.

"We had to pick her up on a bean bag because she was so small. When she was a bit older I could actually put her in my pocket."

The family has turned to the Walking with Giants Foundation for support and to help raise awareness for primordial dwarfism. Through their annual convention they have met other families who have children with the same condition.

Ms Newman said they want to raise awareness about their daughter's condition.

"We stand in front of the pram to shield her from people looking. There isn't a day goes by when someone doesn't come up and start asking questions," she said.

But Charlotte's family realise they are still fortunate because she has avoided the harsher symptoms of MOPD type 1, such as severe brain aneuryisms, and is reportedly in good health.

Type 1 sufferers rarely live beyond their third birthday.

Charlotte cannot walk unaided due to a problem with her Achilles tendons and is fed through a tube for 11 hours a day, but her parents want to give her as normal a life as possible.

"We're just enjoying family life. She might be small but anyone who has ever met her will tell you that she has a big personality.

"Since the day she was born, she has brought something very special into all of our lives."