In February 2017, North Carolina mother Kaycee Oxendine dropped off her 3-month-old son in the infant room at Carrboro Early School, where she was also a pre-kindergarten teacher.

She told the substitute teacher that her son was constipated, after which the teacher offered to breastfeed the infant.

Oxendine said no, but the woman offered again.

Again, she firmly refused.

“She said that she had a son and did I want her to put my child to her breast and breastfeed?” Oxendine later recalled to the local news. “And I said no, that’s nasty. We don’t do things like that.”

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the daycare worker – who is licensed – did just that the moment Oxendine turned her back. A security camera shows that she immediately sat down with the infant and put him to her breast for a few moments.

Oxendine was rightfully livid for three big reasons – first, because her explicit instructions were ignored; second, because she felt the act of breastfeeding someone else’s infant was inappropriate; and third, because her son is highly lactose intolerant and cannot handle milk of any kind. Therefore, he had never been breastfed – until that moment

Of course, women have been breastfeeding each other’s infants for millennia – and “wet nurses” still exist for mothers who want their children breastfed but cannot do it themselves. But that’s not the point, and Oxendine has every right to find the action inappropriate for herself and her son.

“As a mom, you’ve taken something from me, because I wasn’t able to defend my child,” she said of the woman. “I wasn’t there.”

“He’s highly, highly lactose intolerant. He can’t have any milk-based products, any milk, anything with milk in it. So for you to not only go against my wishes but to also put something in my child’s body that may cause harm to him, that’s assault,” Oxendine told ABC11 News.

Despite the practice being fairly mainstream, there are risks in sharing breastmilk. It can transmit infections – as well as any pharmaceuticals a person may be taking – to the infant who consumes it. While breastmilk is generally healthy, a mother needs to know a caretaker’s complete personal medical history first.

Unfortunately, the betrayal of trust was not without real-life consequences for the infant. He did, in fact, get very sick from the milk since he was unable to digest it properly (due to his lactose intolerance) and had to be taken to the hospital that evening.

The baby was fine after treatment, but Oxendine was eager to see the woman punished for what she had done.

By the time she saw the video, the teacher was no longer employed at the school. Another employee reported the incident after which the childcare center was obligated to alert the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Still, Oxendine asked police to investigate and press charges against the woman.

“To me, a criminal act was committed against him,” she said. “Not only did you put your breast to my son, you also made my son sick because he’s lactose intolerant. So you’ve put something in his body that his body can’t digest.”

The hospital also issued a letter saying that the woman needed to be tested and those results delivered to the family.

The police did, indeed, investigate and the district attorney said the case was a unique one that could theoretically indicate an assault or even child abuse:

“This is a very unusual case,” he told ABC11 News. “I’ve been practicing criminal law for over 32 years and I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”

In the end, however, he declined to press charges.

In a news release authorities said:

“After investigating the circumstances of the incident, and after consultation with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the police department’s attorneys, it was determined that no criminal charges would be filed.”

Oxendine said she is not angry at the director or the childcare center, but solely at the woman who broke her trust.

It’s unclear if the woman in question is still a licensed childcare provider or is employed in that industry.

You can scroll down below for a news story about the incident.

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Source: ABC11 News, Inside Edition via YouTube, Parents Magazine, CBS17 News