Miracle baby saved by mother’s warmth

Kate Ogg delivered twins at a Sydney hospital in Australia after just 27 weeks into her pregnancy. Her girl, Emily, weighed in at just two pounds and her boy, Jamie was not breathing.

Doctors tried for nearly half an hour to save Jamie’s life, but were unable to revive him.

Refusing to give up on her new born son, Mrs Ogg cuddled the child for up to two hours and he slowly began breathing again.

Experts think that the miracle baby was stimulated by the warmth from his mother – her body acting like an incubator.

This theory is known as “kangaroo care”. It is named after the way marsupials keep and protect their young in pouches. There are arguments that skin-toskin care with the mother after birth can be more beneficial than placing a baby in an intensive care incubator. Both Jamie and his sister are five months old now.

Midwife Marie Halliday described to Channel 4 News when she saw another premature baby revived in a similar way to baby Jamie.

She said: “When I was a very young midwife we had a very sick premature baby – he was 28 weeks premature. He wasn’t responding to 100 per cent oxygen so it was medically decided to turn his ventilator off.

“I asked if I could cuddle this little baby, and it was OK, they said ‘fine, no problem’.

“So I cuddled him, and he responded and pinked up in a matter of about a minute. Everybody was very surprised.

“Once the initial shock wore off and I was frantically waving at my colleagues, we then obviously brought the parents back in. It was quite amazing.”