Abandoned Baby Continues His Recovery

The newborn infant found buried alive in a shallow grave during the weekend has continued to improve and, according to his doctors, he is now breathing on his own, with an occasional infusion of oxygen.

Dr. Ricardo Liberman, the head of the neonatology unit at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, said the infant’s condition has “stabilized.” His neurological activity is normal, Liberman said. The baby will remain in the hospital for seven to 10 more days.

The infant--who was named Christian by hospital nurses--was found Saturday night in Altadena by a woman who was jogging. He was wrapped in a dirty blue towel and partially buried near a jogging trail.

The boy and the woman, Azita Milanian, were reunited Monday. She gazed with tears in her eyes as the infant lay sleeping on his belly in an incubator. “He is a mountain angel, my angel,” she said.

The baby was not more than a few hours old when he was buried, Liberman said, and he probably would not have survived much longer.

His body temperature had fallen to 80 degrees and he was immediately treated for severe hypothermia. The infant was listed in critical condition when he was brought to the hospital, but he has been upgraded to serious.

Doctors believe it was the youngster’s healthy size--he weighs 7 pounds, 12 ounces--that enabled him to survive the ordeal.

More than two dozen people have called to adopt the baby; the hospital is referring them to the county Department of Children’s Services.

Sheriff’s deputies are still searching for the mother.