Nurse fed baby fabric softener

A nurse fed a premature baby potentially-deadly fabric conditioner instead of milk. The toxic Comfort Pure was poured into the newborn boy’s stomach via a feeding tube in a mix-up after his mum brought in the liquid to add to his blankets.
Staff only realised the mistake after he frothed at the mouth and started vomiting in the Special Care Baby Unit. Fabric softener contains chemicals called surfactants that can be fatal to humans.

Bosses at Luton and Dunstable NHS Hospital blamed the mother of the tot, named only as Baby Hunter, for bringing in the Comfort in a baby’s bottle. But yesterday a furious nurse said colleagues should have double-checked before using it.



The baby unit source said: “It was stupid of the parent to bring in fabric softener in a baby’s bottle to give to nurses. But this is a worried mother who wanted to make sure her baby had soft blankets.

“For a nurse to pick up an unlabelled bottle and not check it is also negligent. Fabric softener doesn’t even look like milk. It’s pearly and gloopy and has a strong perfume. It is an outrage. If this baby had died, the hospital would have a lot of questions to answer.”

The blunder happened last Thursday evening at the hospital in Luton, Beds. The local NHS Trust said in a statement: “Some fabric conditioner which was put in a baby’s feeding bottle by a mother may have been fed to her baby. As a precaution, the hospital sought the advice of the National Poisons Unit and the good news is that the baby experienced no lasting ill effects.”