A MOTHER was facing jail last night for trying to poison her baby by secretly adding dangerous amounts of salt to her milk.

For six months, 20-year-old Rebecca Graham added salt to her daughter's bottles hoping to have the baby admitted to hospital so she would not have to look after her, a court was told.

But she was caught when a nurse became suspicious. And a final piece of damning evidence came from her own mother, who told police that Graham had been warned that salt could potentially kill her baby.

Graham, who has no other children and lives with her partner in Stanley, County Durham, admitted trying to poison her baby and cruelty to a child when she appeared at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

The baby was rushed back into hospital shortly after she was born last year after her mother complained to a GP she was vomiting. Doctors found unusually high levels of salt in her body. For months, during numerous visits to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, they tried to discover the cause of the problem .

It was only in January this year that a vigilant nurse suspected Graham was responsible.

PC Louise Wilson, from Durham Police's child protection unit, said: "Nursing staff had become concerned because Rebecca did not want to bother with her baby . . . she was just left in darkened corners when she was in hospital.

"They found out that Rebecca was preparing feeding bottles herself. One nurse tasted the milk in a bottle and found it to be salty."

The bottle was sent away for tests, which confirmed extremely high levels of salt and Graham was arrested. It was then detectives discovered empty salt sachets stashed in her handbag.

PC Wilson said: "She had been going to the (hospital) canteen and taking the salt from there and putting it in the baby's bottle before feeding her."

Graham initially denied trying to poison her baby, claiming she did not know feeding her salt would harm the child.

But her mother, Marie, told police she had been present when a health worker had discussed the dangers of giving a baby salt.

PC Wilson said: "She said she remembered Rebecca telling the health worker that she had seen a couple of articles where mothers had tried to kill their baby by giving them salt.

"She clearly knew she shouldn't be giving the baby salt."

It is understood that the baby, now nine-months-old, has made a full recovery and has since been adopted.

Graham was granted bail and will be sentenced after the preparation of reports.

Judge Guy Whitburn said: "The child is lucky to be alive. This is very serious indeed, custody will certainly be a matter foremost in the court's mind."

Last night, Dr Peter Morrell, consultant paediatrician at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, told The Northern Echo that a baby's kidneys cannot process salt.

"You end up with a high level of salt in the blood-stream, it then disrupts the metabolism of the brain," he said.

"The baby would be unwell, and eventually there would be seizures, coma and death.