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Singapore/Jakarta: Two Indonesian mothers have been reunited with their infant sons a year after accidentally being handed each other’s newborn child.
Siti Mauliah and Dian Hartono gave birth a day apart in July last year in a private hospital in Bogor, West Java, and were discharged soon afterwards.
In the days that followed, one of them began to suspect she had been given the wrong baby by nurses at the hospital, noticing his hair was thicker than that of the boy she had delivered and becoming concerned that he would not breastfeed.
Indonesian women Siti Mauliah and Dian Hartono have raised each other’s son for the past year as a result of alleged negligence by the hospital where they gave birth.
The other woman was adamant the child she had taken home was hers, however, and it was only in July this year that the results of DNA testing proved they were raising each other’s children.
The mothers have spent the past month beginning to connect with their biological sons and in a ceremonial exchange attended by two Indonesian government ministers on Friday their one-year-olds were returned to them permanently.
“We have made efforts for bonding for a month in September, efforts to make them adapt. They played together, they stayed overnight, then longer,” said Rusdy Ridho, a lawyer representing mother-of-four Siti who arranged for the DNA tests.
“I think one month is not enough. It is really tough. The mothers were obviously happy to meet with their biological sons but on the other hand, they cannot easily forget the memories they have with the baby they had been taking care of. When they received their own baby, they started the process all over again, like having a new baby.
Siti Mauliah (in white) and Dian Hartono and their sons at a bonding session earlier this month.
“The memories that have gone for a year cannot be easily erased. The babies are of different characters. One is active, the other one is quiet. The biological son of Ms Dian, he could already walk within a year. The biological son of Ms Siti is still unable to walk. So their characters are very different. This creates a dilemma for both mothers.”
There is also a major adjustment for the children, who will have different names. Dian’s biological son, who has been with Siti for the past year, was named Muhammad Rangkuti Galuh but she has changed it to Muhammad Danis al-Gozali.
Siti’s son, brought up until now by Dian, was called Muhammad Gibran el-Rumi but she will give him a new name as well.
“The [children] cried in the beginning. When they were separated, the babies immediately looked for their foster mother,” said Rusdy. “The first and second week of September, they played together, and in the third and fourth week, they stayed [at the house of their biological families]. Sometimes they played together at the police station, sometimes they made home visits.
“It is not just the mothers who must adjust. There are husbands, even the whole family. Ms Siti’s daughter still misses her ‘foster brother’.”
In the hospital, identity bracelets were mistakenly placed around their wrists with Dian’s name on them, something that Siti did not realise until after she had gone home.
Her discovery prompted her to track down Dian and approach the hospital, whose staff rejected suggestions of a mix-up.
“They were over-confident that no babies were swapped, [they said] it was just a mistake on the bracelets,” said Siti’s lawyer. “It was a huge effort from Ms Siti … she had a strong feeling that her baby was swapped.”
The women have filed criminal and civil reports against the hospital, claiming negligence, as they try to make up for lost time.
“We want to get a complete explanation of why the babies were swapped,” Rusdy said.
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