Alabama Mother Jailed After Five-Week-Old Baby Showed Toxic Blood Alcohol Level
Katherine Putman, a mother from Franklin County, Alabama, has been charged with domestic violence after her baby nearly died from alcohol poisoning. WAAY reported that 19-year-old Katherine Putman’s baby was found unresponsive and the authorities were called.
The emergency medical response team arrived and reported that the baby was actually responsive, but transported the five-week-old to the hospital as a precaution. At the hospital, the medical staff smelled alcohol on the infant’s breath and called the Russellville police. The police ordered a breathalyzer test to check the baby’s breath for alcohol. The breathalyzer was administered by attaching a funnel to where the test strips attach. As the infant exhaled, the alcohol content in the breath was monitored, according to WBRC. After that, the blood test that was given for better accuracy was assessed. Katherine Putman’s infant’s blood alcohol level was shockingly reported to be.283.
Katherine Putman reportedly told the investigators that it was all a huge mistake. Unlike the mother who was arrested this spring, Putman’s baby was not fed alcohol via breastfeeding, the five-week-old infant was fed alcohol along with infant cereal. Putman explained that when she was making infant cereal for her five-week-old baby, she poured what she believed was water from a drinking water bottle. The substance in the bottle turned out to be vodka. Chief of Police Chris Harget told WBRC, “It’s almost like a death sentence for that baby’s blood alcohol level to be that high… any amount, it’s just uncalled for.”
It is unclear why the infant was being fed cereal at all. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains that infant cereal should not be introduced, even in small amounts, until a baby is between four and six months old. Putman’s child was only five weeks old. It is also unclear why there was alcohol in the water bottle that Putman used. Hargett told WBRC,“The fact that you got a 5-week-old baby in the house and alcohol in water bottles is alarming within itself. Your main concern should be the health of your child.”
Angela O’Neal Jacks, a mother from Alabama, explained to Inquisitr in an online message, “Vodka in a water bottle equals hiding a problem. Being from Franklin County equals……… JK. Giving a 5 week old baby cereal? Knowing you have water bottles with vodka and not paying attention what water bottle you are using? Yeah, I smell a drug or alcohol problem with the mother.”
Still others are giving Katherine Putman the benefit of the doubt. Barb Sanders wrote, “It could have been an accident, I hope it was. When babies first start eating solid food they spit most out so the mom could have thought this was what was happening.”
Katherine Putman was released from jail on fifty thousand dollars bond. Katherine Putman’s infant was given the necessary medical care and is expected to make a full recovery from the alcohol ingestion.
[Photo credit: Russellville Police Department]
