Baby Alfie thriving after treatment

Born premature before his little lungs could develop, fragile Alfie Hancock needed round the clock specialist hospital care. Now, just weeks later, the bundle of joy is thriving with a fine set of lungs to rival any newborn.

The baby boy and his proud parents returned to a Midlands hospital yesterday to say a big thank you to staff who cared for him during his crucial early days. Alfie was born three-and-a-half weeks premature, weighing 6lb 9oz, on January 30 after a healthy pregnancy.

But just hours later his parents Yvonne, aged 40, and Antony, 46, embarked on an emotional rollercoaster after it emerged all was not well with the newborn.

A cry like a lamb was the first sign something was wrong – and it set in motion a package of care to keep him safe until he could breathe for himself.

"I'd had a perfect pregnancy, so it was a total shock, about three hours after he was born, when a midwife heard Alfie cry like a lamb and said something was wrong," said Yvonne, of Mahogany Drive, Stafford.

"We'd been trying for a baby for around six years and when I found I was pregnant naturally we were delighted.

"So it was a nightmare to suddenly find Alfie had immature lungs."

When the midwife at Staffordshire General Hospital heard his strange cry he was rushed to the hospital's Special Care Baby Unit.

After three days in an incubator, with a machine to help him to breathe, he was transferred to a ventilator at the Intensive Care Baby unit at University Hospital North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent.

Four days later he was moved back to Stafford, where he was nursed until being declared fit to go home a week later.

Mrs Hancock, a director of Dust Demons cleaning company in Stafford, said: "Alfie's gorgeous. He's really laid back – and he's definitely got a good set of lungs now, particularly when he wants food.

"And to tell you the truth he can make as much noise as he wants. He's my little darling. I'm the proudest mum in Stafford," she said.