A horrified nursery nurse found a four-day-old baby lying on his stomach in a stationery cupboard at Queen’s Hospital when she went to get an envelope, a hearing has been told today.

Midwives Yvonne Musonda-Malata and Christine Onoade allegedly left the tiny boy in the closet at the post-natal ward at the hospital in Rom Valley Way, Romford, after he became unsettled.

The baby’s mother had left him in their care so she could recover and sleep through the night on April 18, 2011, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.

“During the night and at various points in the early morning Baby A was unsettled,” said Derek Zeitlin, for the NMC.

“There came a time at around 6.30am when Baby A was placed in the cupboard.

“Miss Musonda-Malata said she placed the baby which was previously in an area where she said there was a draft in the open cupboard doorway.

“A nursery nurse, Alex Curtis, went to the cupboard to get an envelope and was shocked to find Baby A inside the cupboard, the door having been closed.”

When Miss Curtis confronted Onoade she allegedly replied the baby was “unsettled and the family had been overfeeding the baby which made it vomit”.

Miss Curtis filed a complaint the same day.

Onoade claims she knew the baby was in the doorway of the cupboard shortly before Miss Curtis found him, the hearing was told.

But Musonda-Malata claims she asked Onoade to keep an eye on the baby while she was away with another patient.

They both face a number of charges in relation to their care of Baby A, including leaving him unattended, on his stomach and not keeping proper feeding records.

If found guilty of misconduct they could face being banned from the profession.

The hearing continues.