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Ellie Smith's world stopped when her daughter was snatched as her family slept in their tent at the remote Blowholes campground in Western Australia in 2021.
The four-year-old vanished along with her sleeping bag and was kept prisoner in a Carnarvon home for 18 days.
Her kidnapper, Terence Kelly, 36, was sentenced to 13½ years in jail.
"She still has her sad nights, her nightmare nights," her mother said, speaking to 60 Minutes besides Cleo's stepdad, Jake Gliddon.
"Some things she just can't explain."
During Kelly's sentencing, it was revealed Cleo was left locked in a room with a loud radio used to conceal her cries.
At times she recognised her own name on broadcasts.
"Obviously it hurts to know that she was crying out for help and we weren't there," her mother said.
"It hurts to know that she was crying out for help and it was ignored."
Kelly admitted he was high on meth at the time, living in an idealised fantasy world to escape his traumatic past that included a tangled web of social media profiles for a family that didn't exist.
Eighteen days of hell eventually ended when detectives smashed their way into his locked home.
The work of WA Police is now being looked at by international agencies.
Police Minister Paul Papalia said it began "as a massive, wide spectrum of investigation" before it "narrowed and narrowed".
"Just prior to his arrest they became more focused on him," he said.
This week Kelly began challenging his sentence.
His legal team lodged documents in the court of appeal arguing proper weight wasn't given to his disadvantaged childhood.
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