A one-year-old has been saved by McDonald's staff at a Sydney restaurant after she stopped breathing for nearly three minutes.

CCTV footage and emergency calls aired on Channel Nine's A Current Affair show panic unfolding as staff and customers attempted to get Sydney girl Nevaeh breathing after she choked on a chip.

Parents Tevita and Glory rushed the child to the counter of the Mount Druit store in July after realising she had stopped breathing.

McDonald's employees James Hatcher, Rachel Whyat and Stephanie Farugia and customer Naomi Donovan then spent the next 150 seconds saving her life.

Fourteen-month-old Nevaeh was already turning blue before Mr Hatcher, 21, started trying to dislodge what was apparently a chip in the child's windpipe.

"She was going 'save my baby, she's choking, she's not breathing,'" restaurant manager James Hatcher told A Current Affair.

"It just kicked in straight away; that you have to do this."

Before paramedics arrived, emergency staff gave instructions over the phone to Ms Farugia, while a drive-through customer left her car to also offer assistance.

"At the time I grabbed her she was limp, really limp, going blue she wasn't breathing," customer Naomi Donovan told A Current Affair.

"I'm thinking she might not survive. She's in my hands, I'm staring at her parents screaming and crying."

After nearly three minutes, Nevea's father can be heard in the background of the emergency call pleading for his daughter to breathe.

"I was just in shock, it felt like an eternity to be honest," he said.

According to hospital staff Navaeh suffered from a seizure, common among children under six years old, which had caused her to choke.

She was kept in hospital for observation overnight but released without further treatment.

"I seriously thought I was going to lose her. I thought, (my) baby can't die -- that's what I seriously thought that was happening."

The restaurant staff, who were trained in administering first aide, received an award on behalf of McDonalds and praise from the NSW ambulance service