LITTLE ROCK — A mother repeatedly disconnected the feeding tube in her 20-month-old son's abdomen at Arkansas Children's Hospital because she feared the toddler would reject regular food and become dependent on formula, Little Rock police said Thursday.
Police charged Tonya Robinson, 27, of Wake Village, Texas, with first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor.
Robinson's son, Dakota, was a patient at the hospital being treated because he was severely underweight, weighing only 18 pounds, police said.
Dr. Karen Farst told police that she and her staff became suspicious of the child's mother because Dakota first began to gain weight on the feeding tube but suddenly and inexplicably started losing weight later. Farst told police that the formula had such a high caloric content that it should have been nearly impossible for the child to lose weight.
Hospital staff members placed the child in an observation room - one in which they had a camera. They saw Robinson several times cover Dakota in a blanket, police said, and would later find wet spots on the crib's sheets and blankets.
Nurses believe that Robinson emptied the formula into Dakota's diapers, police said. They took wet diapers and wrung them out, noting that the liquid looked just like the formula, police said. Farst told police that the hospital also tested the diaper liquid for glucose, which would be present in urine only if Datoka was diabetic, which he is not, police said. Test results reportedly showed high levels of glucose.
Police said Robinson admitted to Farst that she disconnected the feeding tube because she was afraid the child would not take any food orally after taking formula through the tube.
Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said Robinson was released Tuesday afternoon on $10,000 bond.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 08/29/2009