THE proud parents of a precious baby girl who was born three months early are fundraising for a charity close to their hearts.

Poppy Daines-Kielczewska was born in Colchester Hospital weighing just 1lb 13oz on June 24 - 12 weeks before her due date of September 16.

The tiny tot who is described as a “premature miracle” by her parents, was delivered by an emergency Caesarian section and transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridgeshire where she spent nearly three weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit.

After two months, Poppy was able to go home to Dovercourt with her mum, Natalie Daines, and her dad, Paul Kielczewska, on August 26.

Although she now weighs just 8lbs - the same as many newborns - her parents say she is thriving and going from strength to strength.

Paul, 38, said: “Poppy is doing really well now.

“She is on lactose free milk as she became lactose intolerant and was vomiting a lot at first.

“It’s not uncommon for babies born early to be lactose intolerant.

“We did have to take her to A&E over it to go through all the channels to get to a dietician who could help.”

Paul added: “We are now getting smiles from her and she is now 8.5lbs.

“She is still tiny, but she is a whopper compared to how small she was when she was born.

“She turned 21 weeks old on Monday.

“We took her off of oxygen soon after we took her home and she is going from strength to strength.

“She is now more vocal too.”

Braintree and Witham Times:

Her parents used to take her to baby massage classes designed for premature babies but Poppy was considerably smaller than the other babies in the classes.

“There was another mum with a child born on the same day as Poppy, but he was enormous compared to Poppy as he was not three months premature,” said Paul.

“Poppy is about a third smaller than she should be at this age.

“In the first year of her life she is expected to be playing catch up in size to other babies.

“But everything will develop how it should and she will just be a bit smaller at the early stage of her life than other children.”

Mum Natalie, 34, was going for her 28-week scan when doctors told her she needed an emergency Caesarian to save Poppy’s life.

A nurse told Natalie and Paul if they had not had a scan and the lack of blood and oxygen flowing through the umbilical cord was not noticed, then by the following day Poppy would not have survived.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Paul, who has always wanted to be a dad, has called Poppy a “premature miracle”.

He said: “The hospitals thought Poppy was quite advanced for her age, as she was only due to be born a few months ago.

“Her eyes opened early, so she had many eye tests carried out.

“If the temperature in her incubator was too high it could have caused blindness with her eyes open.

“But she was fine and has now had all her immunisations.”

Poppy is also looked after by her proud older sister Willow, six, who is Natalie’s daughter from a previous relationship.

Now Poppy is making good progress, mum Natalie is asking for donations to The Sick Children’s Trust for her birthday this year.

Paul said: “It would be great to give something back to the trust as it is such a great service.”

Natalie’s Facebook fundraising page said: “I’ve chosen this charity because their mission means a lot to me.

“If it wasn’t for this amazing charity we wouldn’t of been able to stay with Poppy while she was at Addenbrooke’s.

“The accommodation they provide is top notch and they honestly couldn’t do enough to help us in what was a really tricky time, so if you can spare even a pound it would help them so so much.”

So far Natalie has raised £40 out of her £150 target for the trust. To donate visit bit.ly/2KBcJrf.