Mum's newborn baby taken from her after false positive drug test

Rebecca Hernandez. Photo / WAFF

A US woman had her newborn baby take from her after she returned a positive drug test, only to be reunited when a later test cleared her - and it may have all been because of something she ate.

Rebecca Hernandez, of Huntsville, Alabama gave birth to her son at the Crestwood Medical Center on Tuesday last week and was tested for drugs after the birth.

When the test came back positive for opiates, staff at the facility called the Alabama Department of Human Resources, who came and removed the child and placed him with an aunt and uncle.

Hernandez then faced an agonising wait for a second test to be completed, which showed no opiates in her system.

Her doctor, Yashica Robinson, believes that poppy seed bread that Hernandez ate the day before she gave birth might be behind the initial result.

"Screening tests can have what we call false-positive results where other things can interfere," Robinson told WAFF news.

"You can have a substance that a patient eats. Like in this case, poppy seeds can make them test positive for opioids."

Poppy seeds are actually derived from opium poppies and, while they can't get you high, they can sometimes contain traces, and morphine, and could show up in a sensitive drug test.

Tests also showed that Hernandez's son had no opiates in his system.

Crestwood Medical Center refused to comment on why Hernandez was initially tested but said that it is "committed to following the law and regulatory requirements as well as ensuring the health and safety of our patient".

After she was reunited with her son, Hernandez spoke to WAFF through a translator, saying the experience had been a "nightmare".

"A newborn baby has to be close to mom," she said. "They have to be with the mom."

"That's the most important time in their life to be close to the mom when they're just born."