Stevie started deteriorating following the positive test. Photo / Supplied
Stevie started deteriorating following the positive test. Photo / Supplied
A Melbourne mother has a warning for Australians after her 6-month-old baby contracted Covid-19 and quickly became very ill.
A Melbourne mother has shared her family's ordeal after her baby daughter contracted coronavirus from her father.
Little Stevie Thomas, who turns 6 months old this Monday, was rushed to Casey Hospital in Melbourne's southeast on Wednesday when she started struggling to breathe, a few hours after testing positive to coronavirus.
Her mother, Nikki Boyle, said Stevie had been an otherwise healthy baby, and like most mothers would be, she struggled seeing her daughter fall ill.
"It was very scary because she's so young … it was really confronting … it's hard to hear that high-pitched, distressed baby scream," she told the Herald-Sun.
Boyle took her daughter to the same hospital the night before after becoming concerned when she noticed Stevie had symptoms including a runny nose, cough and difficulty breathing.
She was tested but discharged from the hospital about 4am on Wednesday with doctors suspecting a regular infection.
A few hours later Boyle got a call saying her baby actually did have Covid-19.
Stevie's condition deteriorated further throughout the day as she struggled to breathe and refused to drink.
About 7.30pm an ambulance was called to take the baby back to the same hospital, where healthcare workers (whom Boyle had nothing but praise for) were shocked the baby had contracted the illness.
"They said they had suspected cases in children there before but this was the first positive one," Boyle said.
Melbourne mum Nikki Boyle and her 6-month-old daughter Stevie Thomas, her partner John Thomas, and two-year-old Cameron Thomas. Source / Supplied
More than 200 children under 4 years of age have tested positive in Victoria so far, the youngest patient just 10 weeks old, but it's not clear how many actually became sick or required hospitalisation.
Stevie was discharged again on Thursday evening and is recovering at home.
The family are in isolation after a positive result for her husband Josh Thomas, and now baby Stevie.
It's believed the baby's father contracted the virus through accidental contact at his job.
The couple's 2-year-old son Cameron hasn't tested positive but Boyle said there was a chance he could contract it too.
She said her experience should serve as a warning to others to do everything they can and should to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
