How did these hospitals give two babies the wrong breastmilk?

It’s the stuff that nightmares are made of. You give birth, you hand over your baby, and then this happens…

Childbirth is scary enough, and when we hear that first healthy cry, most mums feel like they can relax a little. Now we can lie back and trust the hospital we are in to take the very best care of our precious new child. But sometimes, terrible mistakes are made, putting our baby’s life at risk.

In Queensland, two newborn babies have been given the wrong breast milk by hospital staff, leaving them at risk of HIV as well as Hepatitis A, B and C. Now the community is asking, how could this have happened?

The first mistake occurred at Caboolture Hospital last Thursday. The new mum was given a bottle of breastmilk to feed to her baby boy but after five minutes, the nurse returned to retrieve the bottle, explaining that she'd been given the wrong one.

The baby’s grandmother Peggy phoned Brisbane talk back radio and said her son and daughter-in-law are "beside themselves". She told 4BC, "We’re on tenterhooks and to have something like that happen at a hospital, who’s not doing their job?"

The father told the Courier Mail that he is "furious" at the mistake.

The first test for this baby has come back as negative to all diseases however another test will be carried out in 12 weeks time before he is given a clean bill of health.

And now it turns out that this is the second breast milk mix up at a Queensland hospital this year. In April, Logan Hospital gave a mum the wrong breastmilk for her newborn and has now been contacted so her son can be tested for HIV and Hepatitis. She spoke anonymously to the media this week, saying she is shocked. “I was very sick to the stomach,’’ the Courier Mail reports her saying. The mum also said she's upset that the hospital can't trace where the breast milk provided to her son came from. “That was my first thought – whose milk have you given my son, who has it come from?’’

Metro North Hospital and Health Service is urgently investigating these incidents and has apologised to the families. They say the babies weren't at serious risk and the tests are just a precaution.  "Medical advice, provided to the families, is because of the good health of those involved there is negligible risk of health impacts to the baby as a result of this incident,’’ a spokesman told AAP. "However as a precaution, to give peace of mind and certainty to the families involved, blood and milk samples have been taken for comprehensive testing.’’

The midwife involved at the incident at Logan Hospital has been sacked and staff at Caboolture Hospital have been reminded of the importance of following the correct procedure when it comes to expressed breast milk.

Queensland is the first state or territory in Australia where breast milk can be donated and given to newborn babies in hospitals. These two incidents involved mistakes being made with breastmilk expressed by the birth mothers as well as donors.

Would you be comfortable with your child being given donated breast milk? 

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