HIV test for baby given strangers' breast milk in hospital mix-up

A premature baby had to be tested for HIV after blundering hospital staff twice gave her breast milk from strangers.

The girl, born eight weeks early weighing 3lb, had the wrong milk attached to her feeding tube by a nurse at Lewisham Hospital.

Staff then sent her home with bottled breast milk from a second stranger. Zene Yates had a series of tests amid fears the milk was infected. Conditions such as HIV and hepatitis can be passed from mothers to babies through breast milk.

Today Zene's parents Phil and Sarah called for stricter checks at London maternity units. Mrs Yates, 25, said: "We were devastated at the thought of what diseases she could have been given. It would have been a nightmare."

Zene, now seven months old, had been in the neonatal unit for two weeks when a consultant told Mrs Yates that a bottle of another mother's breast milk had been connected to the incubator feeding tube.

Nurses fed Zene 20mls of the milk before realising the error but managed to extract 10mls back out. The other mother later tested negative for HIV and hepatitis.

The second error was not discovered until several weeks after Zene was released, when Mrs Yates was defrosting milk they had been given to take home.

Mr Yates, 28, from Hither Green, said he had wanted Zene tested to ensure she was completely healthy. Both infection tests were negative. Mr Yates said: "Zene was in the neo-natal ward for two-and-a-half weeks and twice unnecessarily exposed to potential disease via someone else's breast milk.

"Something has to change. We do not want someone in the future to be informed that their child has a disease or infection that could so easily be avoided."

The couple stressed that despite the errors they were still grateful to the staff in the neo-natal unit for the care given Zene.

Breast milk is also known to transmit HIV and other diseases such as chicken pox and tuberculosis. HIV-infected mothers are advised to breastfeed only if they are receiving treatment.

Although the risk of infection is low, it cannot be ruled out.

A hospital spokesman said: "We have apologised to Mr and Mrs Yates, and made improvements to how we store and manage breast milk to reduce the risk of this happening again."