@ViewChild (ElementRef.nativeElement) returns undefined

Question

I have a parent component which prints child component out via *ngFor.

<app-item
  *ngFor="let item of items; let i = index"
  [item]="item" [index]="i" (edited)="updateItems($event)">
</app-item>

Child component has following template

<input [(ngModel)]="item" #input type="text" class="form-control" (blur)="editEnd()">

And the following class

export class ItemComponent implements OnInit {
  @Output()
    edited = new EventEmitter<{index: number, value: string}>();

  @ViewChild('input', {read: ElementRef}) input: ElementRef;

  isEditing = false;

  @Input() item: string;
  @Input() index: number;

  constructor() { }

  ngOnInit() {
  }

  editStart(): void {
    this.isEditing = true;
    console.log(this.input);
  }

  editEnd(): void {
    this.isEditing = false;
    this.edited.emit(
      {
        index: this.index,
        value: this.item
      }
    );

    console.log('ended');
  }

  delete(): void {
    console.log('deleted');
  }

}

The problem is that console.log(this.input.nativeElement); returns undefined meanwhile console.log(this.input); contains property "nativeElement". I tried to change ViewChild to ViewChildren but nevertheless console.log(this.input.nativeElement.first()); returns undefined either.