A newborn baby girl abducted from a hospital 18 years ago by a woman posing as a nurse has been found alive and well.

Kaimiyah Mobley was taken from her mother at a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1998.

The baby was only hours old when a woman, dressed in a flowered smock and green hospital pants, abducted her from her mother's room, according to the 1998 incident report.

Police say in the 18 years since, they have followed up more than 2,500 leads and tips relating to the case.

Two new leads last year from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children led cold-case detectives to Walterboro in South Carolina, where Kaimiyah was eventually found.

A DNA test confirmed her real identity.

Now 18-years-old, Ms Mobley grew up with the name Alexis Manigo, believing her abductor, Gloria Williams was her biological mother.

She has broken her silence this afternoon to tell Williams, “I love you Mom.”

The pair had an emotional meeting during a hearing on Friday when Williams blew a kiss to the young woman.

A sobbing Ms Mobley then walked up to her, crying "momma" and telling the 51-year-old through a caged door she loved her, Fox News reports.

Miss Mobley took to Facebook to defend Williams, saying: "My mother is no felon."

She also said: "My mother raised me with everything I needed and most of all everything I wanted. The ignorant ones won't understand it."

Referring to both Williams and her biological mother, she added: "I am going to give my mom a real chance but the bashing of my mother will not be taken lightly."

Police say Williams, aged 51, has been charged with kidnapping and interference in custody. She will appear in court in Jacksonville.

She now faces up to life in prison.

Sheriff Williams said he has spoken with Kaimiyah's biological family, who he said were "overwhelmed with emotion."

Her biological mother, Shanara Mobley, told the Florida Times-Union newspaper on the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping that on every one of her daughter's birthdays, she wrapped a piece of cake in foil.

"It's stressful to wake up every day, knowing that your child is out there and you have no way to reach her or talk to her," she told the newspaper in 2008.

Kaimiyah has spoken to her biological family over the internet and her paternal grandmother, Velma Aiken of Jacksonville, said: "She looks just like her daddy.”

"She act like she been talking to us all the time. She told us she'd be here soon to see us," she said.

Williams has been denied bail and is set to be extradited to Florida.