A MIRACLE baby who was not breathing when he was born has finally returned home after receiving special life-saving treatment.

Little Clayton Jay was born to mum Nicole Kingdon, 16, of Village Close, Kirby Cross, and dad Mario, 20, at 1.30am on Christmas Day.

Clayton Jay, who suffers from cerebral palsy, went into intensive care at Colchester General Hospital before being taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital.

He received a special brain-cooling treatment for 72 hours and was kept at the hospital for ten days before being transferred back to Colchester for another ten days.

New mum Nicole, who is a student at Tendring Technology College, said: “I was very excited at the thought of being a mummy, but when Clayton Jay was born I was terrified.

“I was scared I might lose my baby, because I couldn’t hear him crying.

“I’m so proud of what he has overcome already and he makes me prouder day by day, knowing he has battled every day “I will be eternally grateful to the staff at Colchester and Addenbrooke’s hospitals.

“My mum was an amazing support to me even though she was faced with the fact she could lose her daughter and her first grandchild.”

Nan Sandy Stephenson said she was delighted to have Clayton Jay home with the family.

“He’s been kept in hospital all this time, but has now been allowed home – he’s our Christmas miracle baby," she said.

“He’s still going to be a poorly baby, but at the time we didn’t know if he was going to live or die.

Babies deprived of oxygen during birth can develop hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), which causes brain injury that can lead to death or permanent disability.

Until early last year there was no specific treatment for babies with HIE, but research showed that cooling the body temperature within six hours of birth could dramatically improve results.