Indonesia babysitter allegedly fed 2-year-old appetite stimulants and steroids; charges include domestic violence

SURABAYA, INDONESIA: A babysitter who allegedly fed a two-year-old with appetite stimulants and steroids for over a year has been charged under two local laws, including one on domestic violence.

Police are also investigating other alleged instances of babysitters feeding their charges stimulants, as part of a potential wider trend. 

The 36-year-old from South Sulawesi confessed to the police that she gave the toddler the medications so that he could gain weight.

“The temporary motive was because she wanted to see the child get fatter,” said Director of the General Criminal Investigation Directorate of the East Java Regional Police, Kombes Farman, at the East Java Regional Police Headquarters on Tuesday (Oct 15).

However, he added that the babysitter does not have sufficient knowledge or health education to be doing such things.

Mr Farman said that the babysitter had been charged under Article 44 Law Number 23 of 2004 on Domestic Violence and Article 436 Law Number 17 of 2023 on Health, which carry a minimum of five years imprisonment and a maximum of 20 years in prison, local media platform Kompas.com reported on Tuesday.

The two-year-old toddler, who was undergoing therapy due to difficulty eating, has gained over 6kg in a year and now weighs 19kg, Kompas reported. 

But in an Instagram post on Oct 7 that has since gone viral with over 41,600 reposts and 1,145 comments, the toddler’s mother Madam Linggra Kartika posted a picture of blue and orange pills which she discovered were used to facilitate her son’s weight gain.

“Not only have they been wrongly used as appetite stimulants, these medications are also given in adult dosage, and not suitable for children,” she added in the post.

“I thought the therapy was successful but he gained weight because of medications that were given … from September 2023 till August 2024 without my knowledge,” she said in a separate post on Oct 6. 

It was discovered that the arrested babysitter bought the medications through an online marketplace for around 27,000 to 38,000 rupiah (US$1 to US$2), according to Mdm Linggra’s posts. 

She added that the medications given to her toddler were steroid dexamethasone and appetite stimulant cyproheptadine, commonly known as “pronicy” in Indonesia. She said that these were medications for adults, which were mixed with water and given to the child. 

“After nine days we stopped the medication, my baby’s condition worsened, he does not want to eat or drink,” the mother added.

She reported the case to the police on Aug 30 and the babysitter was arrested on Sep 27, according to local news platform Detik.com.

This was after Mdm Linggra, concerned for her son’s well-being, brought him to the emergency department and he was hospitalised for a week in Surabaya, Detik.com reported on Monday.

She posted on the social media platform that she was sending her son for regular appointments at Khoo Teck Puat National University Children’s Medical Institute in Singapore every three months.

Mr Farman emphasised that the East Java Regional Police team will look into other cases of babysitters feeding children under their care appetite stimulants since the arrested woman claimed that it is common practice among her fellow babysitter friends, Metro TV reported.

“She admitted that (feeding children with) appetite stimulants is common, and is also practised by her friends,” Mr Farman explained. 

The police are also examining the suspect’s mobile phone conversations with the other babysitters, who she claimed used similar methods.  

Mdm Linggra also shared messages from other mothers who encountered similar experiences, through an Instagram post on Oct 15.

“Babysitters who give medications like this are common. My baby cousin was given appetite stimulants by the babysitter until he became really fat and once the babysitter resigned, he could not eat at all and lost so much weight until he was sent to the ICU,” said a message that was sent to her.

“This happened to my child, my babysitter was working for me for over two years and if I had not checked the CCTV, I would not have known,” said another message.