Singer Jamelia has revealed her baby daughter stopped breathing when she was just four weeks old.
The Loose Women panellist spoke of the terrifying moment on today’s This Morning as she urged people to get first aid training in case they ever find themselves in the same awful situation.
Recalling the incident which took place on 22 January, Jamelia told Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford how she had been holding True on her chest when the baby flung herself backwards and stopped breathing.
Jamelia said: “It took me a couple of seconds to realise she wasn’t breathing. At that point, I can only describe panic.
“After two minutes, I remember my daughter going limp. I felt like she was giving up. I thought she was going to die.”
The star screamed for her older children, Teja, 17, and Tiani, 13, to come and help and they called 999 to relay crucial life-saving advice from the operator to their mother.
“If it wasn’t for my older daughters, I don’t know if True would still be here. I did not cope well with the pressure, I didn’t know what to do,” Jamelia, 37, admitted.
Thankfully the CPR information relayed by the ambulance service meant Jamelia could get her daughter breathing again.
The singer said she has since had first aid training so she knows what to do if it ever happens again – and has urged others to do the same.
“Don’t make the same mistake I did,” she said. “Get yourself educated and if your child stops breathing, you will know what to do.”
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True’s problem was caused by reflux and there is a chance it could happen again but Jamelia said she’s much more prepared for it now.
She said: “Even up to yesterday she had an episode, she was choking and I was able to deal with it and she was fine within about five seconds. The difference of having that knowledge is invaluable. As a mother you want to be in control.
“She choked yesterday and I knew exactly how to deal with it. I was calm and I was confident all because I had the training. A total difference.”
Jamelia said she “dreads to think” what could have happened if she had been alone the time True stopped breathing.
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The little girl is her third daughter, who she had with her husband, whose identity she hasn’t revealed.
She had Tiani with her footballer ex Darren Byfield and Teja with her former music manager, Terry Wallen.
Will you get first aid training after hearing Jamelia’s story? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.