Stopped heart frozen baby makes miraculous recovery

Canadian doctors are continuing to marvel at the recovery of a baby who nearly froze to death last month.

The one-year-old child, who has been referred to simply as Erika, wandered outdoors at night and was found frozen in the snow with a non-beating heart.

Medics say she is now smiling and talking and seems anxious to explore the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.

"She would like to get out of her crib and would like to crawl, or maybe walk, but as you know there are some limitations to that," said her paediatrician, Dr Nadeem Mian. "We're not letting her do what she would like to at this stage."

The doctor says Erika doesn't appear to have suffered brain damage and most of her extreme frostbite injuries appear to be healing, but doctors remain concerned about the toes and tip of her left foot.

"We're still hoping but there's a possibility she might lose those," he said.

He said a decision on whether to amputate might be made in the next few days or could be put off for a week or two.

"I think she's a fighter," he said. "The odds are in her favour."

Dr Mian says Erika's mother, a single parent who is expecting her sixth child, is holding up well.