West Boca mother arrested in death of malnourished 1-month-old daughter
Delaila Pino LaSalle's infant daughter died last March of malnutrition. The mother's explanation? A cleft lip with which the child was born.
The birth defect, Pino Lasalle told deputies, kept the child from nursing. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigated the 1-month-old's death, and after months of interviews and consultations with doctors, deputies arrested the 23-year-old mother on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and neglect.
Circuit Judge Kirk Volker set Pino Lasalle's bail at $18,000 on Tuesday. He also barred her from having contact with her other children unless she is supervised. She remained in jail Friday afternoon.
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Mother came to western Boca Raton in December 2021
Pino LaSalle originally lived in Puerto Rico. It’s where she was for the majority of her pregnancy. In December 2021, she traveled to western Boca Raton to visit her mother for the holidays.
Pino LaSalle began to have sharp stomach pains in early January and was admitted to West Boca Medical Center. On Feb. 5, she gave birth to twins at 37 weeks' gestation after an emergency C-section.
Pino LaSalle's daughter was significantly smaller than her twin brother in the womb. The infant had pneumonia, upper-respiratory distress and a hole in her heart when she was born, in addition to her cleft lip, according to the arrest report. She was placed in the. neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for about two weeks before being discharged from the hospital.
Pino LaSalle told deputies that her daughter's cleft lip prevented her from breastfeeding until a week before her death. But the mother hadn't expressed this concern, the arrest report states. In fact, she told detectives she'd been exclusively breastfeeding her twins, although investigators found they'd mostly been fed with water and formula at home.
Dr. George Kamel, the plastic surgeon who assessed Pino LaSalle’s daughter while she was in the NICU, said he did not believe that the cleft lip would cause any issues when it came to breastfeeding or latching on. He also said his office had scheduled a follow-up appointment for March 8, 2022, for Pino LaSalle’s daughter, but the family did not show or respond to any communications.
How common are cleft lips in newborns and would they affect breastfeeding?
Cleft lips in newborns are common, said Dr. Adrian Florens, a neonatologist at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Roughly 1 in 1,600 babies have the birth defect, in which the upper lip does not completely form, leaving an opening.
What's not so common is for a child with a cleft lip to be unable to breastfeed. The majority still can, Florens said, though many do end up requiring some support, such as special bottles with a slower flow.
When the infant was discharged, she met the requirements of maintaining body temperature, being able to breathe without assistance, eating consistently and gaining weight, according to the arrest report.
Pino LaSalle told investigators that on March 17, 2022, that she woke up about 6 a.m. to feed the twins for a fourth time that night. When Pino LaSalle attempted to feed her daughter, she noticed the baby felt “softer” than usual.
Pino LaSalle went to her mother for help, who immediately called 911. The child did not appear to be breathing and her skin was blueish. The mother performed CPR, following the 911 dispatcher’s instructions, as responders from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue made their way to the residence.
An ambulance drove the infant to West Boca Medical Center, but she was unresponsive, not breathing and had no pulse. The baby was pronounced dead about 8 a.m.
At the time of her death, Pino LaSalle's daughter weighed about 8.8 pounds. The pediatrician who assessed her after her release from the NICU said she was small but appeared to be doing well during that Feb. 25 visit. She said the baby had been growing and developing properly for her age and that Pino LaSalle had made no mention of any feeding issues then.
A follow-up was scheduled for two weeks later with the same doctor, but it was canceled. And a week after the scheduled follow-up, her office received a call about the baby's death. The pediatrician, who anticipated a weight gain of about 10 ounces by the time of the canceled follow-up, was surprised when she learned the child weighed less at the time of her death. The baby did not have any conditions that would have stunted her growth, she said.
Florens, though not involved in this case, said that by the time of Pino LaSalle's daughter's age, a baby should gain at least half of its birth weight. The child's birth weight was not disclosed in the report.
The child's fraternal twin was discovered to be underweight, too, and removed from Pino LaSalle's residence about a week after her daughter's death. According to a state Child Protection Team report, he had thin scalp hair, sunken cheeks and visible ribs. These are all symptoms of severe malnutrition. The baby was taken into foster care that same month.
Why police found probable cause to charge and arrest the woman
Police said they found probable cause to charge and arrest her because she failed to provide her daughter with the care, supervision and services necessary to maintain her physical and mental health, according to the arrest report. Some of these would include providing her daughter with proper food, nutrition, clothing, shelter and medicine to survive.
Pino LaSalle and her attorney are scheduled to appear before Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe on March 23.
Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mother: Infant's cleft lip was reason daughter died of malnutrition
