Parents of an eight-week-old girl have shared a heartbreaking video of their baby receiving CPR when a common cold nearly killed her.
Eliza Hobbs spent five days in a medically induced coma after the cold developed into a serious chest infection.
Her parents, Thomas Hobbs, 27, and Sophie Hobbs, 23, from Billingham, County Durham, are warning people not to kiss other people’s babies after their terrifying ordeal.
The baby was rushed to hospital earlier this month when Mr Hobbs woke to find her ‘pale and lifeless’ in her cot.
He said: ‘A simple lovable kiss could have killed our baby.’
Eliza Hobbs spent five days in a medically induced coma when a common cold turned into a serious chest infection when she was eight weeks old
Parents Sophie and Thomas Hobbs are warning other parents not to let people kiss their babies, believing Eliza could have contracted the deadly cold from someone else
‘We thought we were going to watch her take her last breath’. Eliza, pictured before her parents’ wedding, spent seven days in intensive care
‘The message I want to get out there is if anyone has a cold don’t let them kiss your baby. It can be passed on through colds, cold sores, viruses.’
Mr Hobbs said that Eliza had recently picked up a cough and had been ‘sniffling’ so took her to the doctors, but were later sent home and told to keep an eye on her.
Five days later, on November 7, he found the toddler lifeless in her cot and unresponsive.
Mr Hobbs said: ‘I went in to see her and she was lifeless. She was really pale and wasn’t responding. I knew there was something really wrong so I phoned an ambulance.
‘There was this feeling of dread and absolute fear. We were thinking is she going to pull through or is this the end for her.
‘When we got to the hospital she was put into a little cot and on high flow oxygen.
‘She suddenly went blue and 20 doctors rushed round the bed. It felt like we were in the centre of an earthquake – like we’d been pushed to the back of the room and all we could do was watch our daughter and we couldn’t do anything to help her.
‘At that point we thought we’d lost her. They were performing CPR on her.
‘She stopped breathing for about a minute but they managed to bring her back round.’
Doctors performed CPR on Eliza three-four times because she stopped breathing
Mrs Hobbs said her baby had been ‘left lifeless by a common cold’, and warns others parents to keep their babies warm. Pictured, Eliza is on oxygen after coming out the coma
Eliza, pictured in a coma, couldn’t cry when she woke because of the swelling in her chest and windpipe
Eliza was transferred to another hospital and was placed into a medically induced coma.
Mr Hobbs said: ‘They were listening to her chest and could hear secretions. They took swabs to try and find out if it was viral or bacterial infection.
‘They couldn’t identify what it was from the results so put it down to a chest infection but we think it was bronchitis.
‘She was put into a medically induced coma.
‘It was the worst scenario we could imagine. We just stood at the end of the bed and couldn’t take our eyes off her.
‘We thought we were going to watch her take her last breath.
‘She was in coma for five days and three or four times they had to perform CPR because she stopped breathing.
‘It could have been a cold that would have just passed had it been an adult but it developed into a massive chest infection which became life-threatening.’
Eliza came round and was able to breath on her own before she was sent home after spending seven days in the intensive care unit.
Mr and Mrs Hobbs, pictured with Eliza, say people need to keep their hands clean, keep their babies warm, and stay away from babies if you have a cold
Mr Hobbs said: ‘When she came round properly she couldn’t cry. She sounded like a purring kitten because of the swelling on her chest and in her windpipe.
‘It’s like you could sense the pain and confusion. It really upset us.
‘Everyday she’s getting a bit better and less chesty. Bringing her home was amazing – just being able to give her that safety and security and she could become part of the family.
‘She’s a little fighter. She fought when she was born and she’s had to do it again.
‘She’s mischievous and she’ll burst into these little smiles and giggles. She’s beautiful and I wouldn’t have her any other way.
‘Thankfully she’s going to make a full recovery and we’re able to enjoy her as new parents.
Taking to social media, mother Mrs Hobbs said her baby had been left ‘lifeless by a common cold’.
She said: ‘I want to make all parents aware please please keep warm in the cold weather and keep your babies warm too.
‘I just want to warn all parents as it is heartbreaking for me and my husband to see our baby girl like this. Please do not let other people kiss your baby.’
Mr Hobbs added: ‘We are very protective parents and this still happened to us. We don’t know where she picked it up from but it could have been deadly.
‘People need to make sure they wash their hands – simple things like that and if they’ve got a cold stay away until it’s gone.’
It’s not the first time parents have warned others about kissing babies.
The ‘kiss of death’ is term used to describe when a baby catches neonatal herpes from someone with a cold sore.
Neonatal herpes is extremely dangerous for young babies due to their immune systems not being strong enough to fight the virus.
Leo Aldcroft from Prestwich, Greater Manchester, tragically died this year at just 10 days old after catching the virus from his mother.