Jamelia was convinced her baby was going to die after she went "limp" and stopped breathing.

Jamelia

Jamelia

The 37-year-old TV presenter was thrown into "panic" after her three-month-old baby True - who was born in December after the star's waters broke at 23 weeks - shot backwards while lying on her chest, and she realised something was badly wrong.

She said: "I just noticed at one point she flung herself backwards and it took me a couple of seconds to realise she wasn't breathing. At that point I can only describe panic.

"After about two minutes I just remember my daughter going limp and I felt like when she was giving up.

"All I kept thinking was, 'Oh my gosh, she's going to die. She's going to die.' "

Jamelia is grateful her daughters - Teja Wallen, 17, who she has with former music manager, Terry Wallen, and Tiani Byfield, 12, from a relationship with retired footballer Darren Byfield - were there to call the ambulance and relay CPR advice to her because she "didn't know what to do".

She said: "If it wasn't for my daughters I don't know if True would still be here because I didn't cope well under the pressure, because I didn't know what to do."

Since the frightening incident, Jamelia has undergone a CPR training course to ensure she knows what to do next time, and she has already had to put her skills into practice.

Speaking on ITV's 'This Morning', she added: "Even yesterday she had an episode, she was choking and I was able to deal with it and she was fine within about five seconds.

"Just having that knowledge is invaluable. As a mother you want to be in control, you want to know what to do.

"If I had any advice it would, 'Don't make the same mistakes I did. Get yourself educated and if your child stops breathing you'll know what to do."


Tagged in