Baby whose sepsis battle at just 13 weeks left her too traumatised to speak stuns her parents to finally say her first words 3 YEARS later

Layla Astley, now three, was just 13 weeks old when a water infection is thought to have triggered her sepsis (inset). 


Her devastated parents, Hayley (right) and Matt were told to prepare for the worst. Miraculously, she pulled through but the traumatic episode caused delays to Layla's development, including her speech. Her mother taught Layla how to communicate using Makaton, a type of sign language. In turn, this encouraged her to speak verbally and she can now speak in short sentences. Mrs Astley said: 'Over the past few weeks Layla has started to string simple sentences together about nursery and likes to make up silly phrases - but they make sense and that's all that matters.'