PRAGUE (AFP) — A Czech couple had a DNA test performed on their baby to dispel gossip about whether they were the true parents and found their nine-month old baby had been swopped for another soon after birth, media reported Thursday.
Tongues began to wag in the southeastern town of Trebic when it was noticed that the baby, Nikolka, bore no resemblance to her brunette parents, Libor and Jaroslava, according to the Dnes daily.
But tests ordered by the 29-year-old father to quell the talk revealed no biological links between either of the parents and the baby.
Follow-up checks showed up a series of anomalies, such as the fact that the baby's weight dropped from 3.30 kilogrammes (7.26 pounds) to 2.65kg (5.83 pounds) a day after the birth. "We were overjoyed after the birth of our baby, we did not pay any attention," Libor told the paper.
Four girls and a boy were born at the town hospital on the same day as Nikolka and the other family was identified in the apparent switch, according to Dnes.
Libor and Jaroslava are now demanding their biological baby back, 10 million koruna (363,000 euros 514,000 dollars) in damages as well as access to Nikolka in the future. It is far from clear whether the second family will agree to an exchange, the paper added.
Police are investigating the affair with the hospital protesting that all new born babies are given an identification bracelet at birth.
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