“While she’s in hospital, I’m going to be there by her side,” said Tracy Lavender, the paternal grandmother of little Aria Jayde Tanya.

She said her son Jayden Lavender, 14, and the baby’s mother, Jenifer Morrison, 15, made the decision to smuggle their three day-old baby out of hospital after they were told they would not be able to take Aria home with them.

“You’re talking about two kids that have just had a baby, that just wanted to stay with their baby — that’s all it comes down to,” Ms Lavender said.

With their baby swaddled in a blanket, the young couple left Nepean Hospital just after midnight on Thursday, caught a train to Mount Druitt and bought a tent, sleeping bag and camping supplies from Kmart. They then spent the rest of the night camping in Wilmot, in Sydney’s west, while police mounted a massive manhunt.

They were found yesterday afternoon in Captain Cook Drive in Wilmot, and Aria, unharmed, was taken back to Nepean Hospital.

The teens were interviewed by police, but no charges were laid.

When the search was mounted, police said they believed the teens were travelling with an unknown man, but Ms Lavender said that person was merely a stranger in the hospital who helped Jayden with his bags after seeing him in tears.

“That tells me he knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do,” she said. “But he had to do what was right for his baby and his girlfriend.”

A few weeks after learning of the pregnancy, Jenifer and Jayden became engaged and planned to marry before the baby arrived.

They couldn’t because they were under 16 — despite Ms Lavender declaring she would have signed her consent for them to wed.

“They’re young, yeah, they made the mistake of being young,” Ms Lavender said.

“(Jayden) had a choice to be a proper father and support his child or walk away.

“He was at the birth and he hasn’t moved from her (and) that baby since she was born.”