I have not actually had to report suspected abuse myself. I am a pedi nurse and there have been a couple of patients that I believed were being neglected. There was a 4 month old baby that we have had 4 times and every time we end up transporting the child to Texas Children's. The father is alcoholic and abusive and the mother is 21 with 3 kids under the age of 3. We had to bring the baby out the the nurses startion the last time the baby was in because she would not feed him. She was more interested in sleeping and talking on the phone. When the baby started crying she just stuck the pacifier back in his mouth. The baby was born at 33 weeks and was still very small. The doctor had advised her to feed him every 3 hours even it meant waking him up to eat. He went 12 hours without anything. Nightshift had told me that when they went in and offered to feed the baby she said she would do it. She never did. I just finally started bringing him out to the nurses station with me and feeding him there. She wouldn't change his diapers or give him baths either. IShe would not keep his O2 on, we were constantly putting it back on and reminding her to do the same. I am thinking if she is doing this here, what is she doing at home? We ended up shipping the baby again later that night due to respiratory distress (this was #4). That was April. We were all taking bets on how long it would be before he would be back. The time before he was in renal failure from severe dehydration that she had done nothing about. I kept asking at what point does CPS come in and get involved. They were aware of what was going on. I cried all the way home that someone could let their child get that sick and not do anything. My mother is a nurse too and I called her on my way home because I needed to talk to somebody. I was an emotional wreck. I was so worried about this baby. I rocked him, sang to him, fed him, changed him, bathed him, and just held him. I called a couple of hours after I got home because I just had a really bad feeling; they had just flown him out. His O2 sat had dropped to 54% and he was turning gray. I was just devastated. I know that I worry too much about things that I have no control over. I wonder all of the time how he is doing. I am just glad that he has not been back in the hospital. But I worry in the back of my mind that he may not make it if something doesn't change. The pediatricians say that if he comes in again they will call CPS personally and report it.

That mother should be arrested, put in jail and not fed for a week or two!