‘Don’t touch him’: Mum’s devastating final moments with her baby son after his death at a Brisbane daycare

The devastated mother of a baby who died at a daycare in Brisbane was prevented from holding her one-year-old son after rushing to the scene of the tragedy.

Panicked calls were made to paramedics on Monday at about 3.30pm when little Riley Ma was found unresponsive after suffering an apparent medical episode.

A family friend told The Courier-Mail that the boy’s father was sent a text message from the daycare advising “something bad has happened” and asking him to come to the Wakerley facility.

When he arrived, ambulance crews were trying to revive Riley but he was declared dead at the scene.

“Riley was all purple on his lips and then his fist was so tight, obviously he was struggling before his last breath,” the friend Katrina Zhang told the newspaper.

“They tried for a while and then just declared he’s already gone, there’s no point taking him to hospital. It is devastating for the family.”

Baby Riley’s mother rushed to the private family run daycare in Brisbane’s east a short time later.

While her husband had been allowed by paramedics to cradle the boy, his mum was prevented from holding him by police.

“They said to my husband, ‘You can give him a cuddle,’ and my husband gave him a cuddle tightly,” Riley’s mother told The Courier-Mail.

“When I arrived, the police already arrived before me, so they didn’t allow me to touch my baby, didn’t allow me to kiss my baby, didn’t allow me to give him a cuddle. So, I didn’t do anything at all.”

Riley was the couple’s only child and they “cherished” him, she added.

“I can’t drink, I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I just miss my little boy.”

She is yet to tell her mother, Riley’s elderly and ill grandmother, of his shock death out of fear for her welfare, she said.

“She is at the fourth stage of cancer and Riley is her hope. I don’t dare to tell her the truth, I just tell her Riley is sick. But I know finally my mum is going to know what happened.”

The baby was dropped off on Monday at about 7.30am and was said to be happy and well.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the death and a report will be prepared for the coroner.