New mum given wrong baby to breastfeed

A MATERNITY ward mum breastfed a stranger's baby after a mix-up saw her child given to the other woman. The appalling blunder came after the hours-old infants had been taken away to let the mothers rest, a disciplinary tribunal heard yesterday. The gaffe was discovered — but registered midwife Jill Ashmore is said to have tried to cover it up when the babies were handed to their rightful mums. She allegedly lied to one — referred to as Mother A — by saying the child had not been fed. The Nursing and Midwifery Council was told: "The baby had been breastfed by Mother B — who thought she was feeding her own baby." Nightshift midwife Ashmore, who faces being struck off, is also accused of telling a student midwife to keep quiet and not "drop anybody in the s***" at Bassetlaw Hospital in Worksop, Notts.