Premature baby girl wins title of 'happiest baby in the world' just five days after being born

One little girl is inspiring the parents of premature babies everywhere after a photo of her smiling just five days after being born went viral.

Born on Thanksgiving Day in 2014, Freya weighed just 1.7kg, well below the average weight of a new-born, which varies between 2.5kg and 5kg.

Nonetheless, she was more than happy to flash a smile for doting parents David and Lauren Vinje, grinning ear to ear. 

She is now being called the happiest baby in the world.

Lauren, a mum of two, told ABC News: “I was talking to her and I had said 'should we send a picture to Daddy?' and right when I was about to take the picture, she had this huge smile. It was a picture that I had always wanted to get out for people to see because of how it touched me (in) the way that it did.

“We gave a copy to the nurses, and when we went to have our second little girl, they still had it hanging up in their break room.”

Lauren’s pregnancy was no easy road, battling with signs of preeclampsia - a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure - at just 28 weeks. After being advised that her baby’s heart rate was dropping, she prepared to have Freya via emergency section. 

The fear soon subsided with the birth of tiny Freya who was born two days later. As a result, Lauren felt the need to comfort other parents of premature infants and shared the picture on the blog “Birth without Fear.”

Since then, the image of Freya’s dazzling smile has gone viral, being reposted by Facebook group Love What Matters, where it has been shared more than 35,000 times and received more than 300,000 likes.

Today, Freya is flourishing and will celebrate her second birthday next month.

“Honestly, she is the best thing that has happened to us,” Lauren said. “We go to the store and she's the friendliest little girl and she says hi to everybody.” 

“She's so fun. She's so happy. That picture at five days old, you can see her little personality and you look at her now, and she hasn't changed. She's still the happy little girl in that photo.”