A baby with a devastating heart condition began choking and vomiting whenever he was fed.
Mum Tahli Kershaw was told 20 weeks into her pregnancy that son Ralph Thompson had patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).
Doctors classed the unborn tot as a "failure to thrive" and his parents, from Ainsdale, Merseyside, were warned he would never put on weight.
When he was born it was found an artery was wrapped around his trachea resulting in him choking and turning blue when he ate, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Ralph's older sister Fallon also had a hole in her heart but this closed naturally as she got older.
Tahli, 31, hoped her youngest child would also grow out of the condition but complications arose when he was born.
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And despite no issues during the delivery, he began struggling to feed less than a week later.
Doctors said it could just be reflux and would hopefully resolve itself but four months later it was getting worse.
Ralph was sent to see a cardiologist who found the extra artery wrapped around his trachea.
And while it was accepted that this was the cause of his eating difficulties, Tahli was told he would grow out of it.
However, when the mum tried to feed him, the baby would aspirate meaning the food would go into his lungs, causing infections.
When Ralph went for a CT scan, it was then found that his heart had grown rather than shrunk.
But a year on, the tot is now able to eat and drink having undergone surgery.
Tahli said: "We've been lucky enough to see the impact straight away from the operation because a lot of people have persistent problems straight away from the beginning, straight out of surgery.
"Some don't see the effect for two to three years but this just shows how compressed his oesophagus and trachea were from the vessel and we noticed a change straight away."
He is also being weaned onto solid food without Tahli and his dad, Ian, worrying about him not being able to swallow his food.
