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Day care worker who was accused of force-feeding 7-month-old convicted of battery

A worker at a Downers Grove day-care business was convicted Monday of misdemeanor battery over allegations she force-fed one of the clients, a 7-month-old girl.

But DuPage County Judge Robert Miller also found Maura Healy not guilty of endangering the health or life of the child.

Miller said the standard for endangerment was whether danger was probable, not just possible, and that the evidence presented did not establish that beyond a reasonable doubt. “Medical testimony would have been very helpful,” he said.

Prosecutors showed surveillance video of the “young infants” room at the Little People Learning day-care center, taken during the lunchtime feeding Dec. 20, 2018. The video depicted the child screaming and crying for several minutes as Healy tried to spoon-feed her.

The prosecutors say that at one point Healy pushed the child's head into the back of a high chair in which she was sitting, and that she held the infant's mouth closed while there was food in it, for seven seconds.

“This is seven seconds of the child squirming backward, and her trying to feed the child,” defense attorney Paul DeLuca said.

Healy testified the infant moved her head back and side to side, and that she only held the spoon in front of the baby's mouth.

A Downers Grove police investigator testified Healy answered affirmatively when he asked her whether feeding a crying baby was unsafe, and Healy answered “yes” when a prosecutor asked her that. Healy herself testified that putting food in the mouth of a crying infant is unsafe, due to the risk the food could enter the baby's windpipe instead of the esophagus.

But Healy disagreed that other sounds the baby made were choking sounds. She testified the infant had coughed throughout the day and had chest congestion. The infant had missed the previous two days at day care.

The baby's mother, however, testified that the baby did not have a cold and was not sick.

Both sides agreed that the girl suffered from acid reflux that caused her to spit up almost anytime she ate, whether it was formula, cereal or pureed fruits and vegetables. The mother believes Healy may have tried feeding pureed turkey chili to the girl, who was not eating pureed meats yet. Healy was feeding that meal at the same time to a 1-year-old infant.

Miller said the infant's distress was magnified by repeated attempts to feed her against her will. “That is insulting,” he said. The battery charge required a finding of contact of an insulting or provoking nature.

Healy will have a sentencing hearing Jan. 9.

Healy, of Franklin Park, was one of three workers charged in the incident. The other two await trial.

Three Downers Grove day care teachers facing misdemeanor child endangerment charges

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