A mother has lost all faith in her son's day care after employees made a mistake that could have serious ramifications. Jessi Werkmeister of Fenton, Missouri, told WNEP that her son was fed breast milk from another mother while at WeeCare Childcare. Wermeister's son was born four weeks prematurely, and the mother was not only furious that he wasn't given the special formula he needs, but was worried that she didn't know what was in the milk he was given.
The mom said she discovered the mix-up when she went to pick her son up and saw a child care provider feeding him the wrong milk.
The mom told WNEP that the worker thought her son was a different baby, and she could immediately tell something was wrong. “The bottle was not a bottle I provided. It was a different brand,” Werkmeister said.
“I said, 'What are you feeding him?' They responded with, 'I can assure you it’s not breast milk,'” she continued. “I said, 'What is it? He’s a preemie.'”
The mom soon learned that her son not only wasn't drinking his special formula but that he was drinking breast milk from another mother.
Petrified, the mom was worried that by getting the wrong milk, her son could have been exposed to any number of health conditions because of the mistake. Werkmeister said she found the mom on Facebook and confirmed that it was her breast milk her son had been given.
“She reassured me it was breast milk,” the mom recalled. “She said, 'What is my son getting if your son’s getting my breast milk?'”
"The thing that you worry about is the transmission of infectious disease,” explained Josh Arthur, assistant professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine. “Breast milk is better in almost every way than formula, but the one thing is it could transmit medical conditions that the mother has.”
The mom agreed that she was worried about her boy's health. “Immediately, you want to know if they drink, smoke, are they healthy?” Werkmeister said. “That is something that the day care should’ve had a protocol to address. I didn’t get a phone call. I didn’t get a follow-up.”
Werkmeister added that not only had the day care facility mixed up the milk but he also was wearing the wrong diaper.
WeeCare Childcare issued an apology after the incident, but Werkmeister is still concerned.
The mom explained that all of her son's bottles are labeled and pointed out that he has a distinctive red birthmark, which should have helped day care providers distinguish her son from the other kids.
“It makes me wonder if you can’t give a child the right bottle, what other things are going on in the day care?" she said.
The day care issued this statement:
“We would like to apologize to the parents of all parties involved in this isolated incident. We are sure that this issue has been addressed and resolved. We love all our children and families that God has placed in our hands. We look forward to serving our community, and we will continue to protect our credibility.”
