Mother who gave baby "rum formula" arrested, freed

(CBS) STOCKTON, Calif. - Twenty-six year old Iesha Hill was arrested on Saturday for allegedly giving her infant a bottle of formula mixed with rum.

By Tuesday, the Stockton, Calif. woman had apparently convinced authorities it was an honest mistake, Fox 40 Sacramento reported.

Hill claims accidentally gave her five-month-old daughter a bottle of formula with rum in the middle of the night. The family later brought the infant to a nearby hospital, where the mother was arrested.

Stockton Police Officer Joe Silva told Fox 40, "A 5-month-old baby ingesting any amount of alcohol - that's definitely a serious situation which has to be dealt with immediately."

However, the charges were later dropped, with the district attorney's office saying the incident didn't meet the legal requirements for a felony child endangerment charge.

The mother's family said a water bottle filled with rum was mistakenly used in making the formula.

Released on Tuesday night, Hill told Fox 40 that "it kind of hurt my feelings just to know that people even think something of me like that because I take good care of my kids. Most definitely. They come first."

She also told declared that she was going to stop drinking, as the whole situation was "very painful" and "because I don't want this to ever happen again to my kids or anyone...It was really painful being here by myself without my kids. Really painful."

Her five-month-old is expected to make a full recovery.