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8-Month-Old Overdoses After Drinking Mother's Milk

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Sep 02, 2013 03:09 PM EDT

An eight-moth-old boy in Sacramento, California died of an overdose after drinking his mother's milk.

Ryder Salmen died after he overdosed on Xanax, methadone and the painkiller Opana, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Court documents revealed that the baby's mother, Sarah Ann Stephens, 32, had been warned, five months before his death, to stop breastfeeding because of the high levels of methadone found in her blood.

Ryder died in September 2012. Police had found the boy dead after they responded to a call about an unresponsive infant. Two weeks after the boy's death, toxicology reports revealed that the baby had died of a prescription drug overdose.

Police said that the boy's mother intentionally fed him the lethal milk.

A pathologist told authorities that "the drugs were at a level that would have caused an adult addict to be high," according to the Sacramento Bee.

Stephens was arrested early last month, and is now being charged with second-degree murder and felony child endangerment by the Sacramento Country District Attorney.  

The latest case has sparked criticism from child advocates, who say that the Sacramento County Child Protective Services was slow to react to the warning sighs.

The Sacramento Bee reported that it took Child Protective Services three months to fully respond after hospital tests revealed that Ryder was exposed to dangerous drugs. Social workers had already concluded that Ryder was at risk after his first hospital visit. Advocates said that the test results should have prompted a safety plan if Ryder was to remain in his mother's custody.  However, records revealed that it took a Child Protective Services manager three months to approve the safety plan created by a social worker.

"There are occasions when a time lapse occurs between the review of the safety assessment and the (approval)," deputy director of Child Protective Services told the Sacramento Bee. 

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