Nobody fed the baby.

But why? We need context. Did they not know? Did they not care? Is this the first time they've looked after this baby? Or any baby. You're drip-feeding little bits at a time which isn't helping people to answer properly.

It’s fine to need reassurance. OP has said she’s not the mum, there’s no need for the ‘you know the answer’ dismissiveness.

So baby could have eaten the whole egg, it was offered? If they were starving they'd have eaten it....

Neglect. I know you say you don’t have any your concerns about the baby but can you keep a very close eye? Will this person be looking after the child again? How did they explain what they did? Who is responsible for the baby and what’s there perception of the situation?
I feel like the baby would have been upset and was ignored - no fluid is really concerning me.

But it wasnt 40 calories all day the baby had breakfast and dinner. And id bet had a cup/bottle of milk on waking, and one before bed.
Contrary to what some posters here are suggesting no a 13mth old shouldnt still be having loads of bottles of milk through the day, these should mostly have been replaced now by the meals they are having. The lunch is small but is it they were offered more, didnt eat it (perhaps teethy?) and the adults around didnt push it?

Why are you being so coy about the details if you want answers?

OP, refusing to eat more than half a scrambled egg for lunch is very different than only being offered such a tiny lunch.

You haven’t answered whether baby was given a drink with lunch? Presumably mum gave a drink with breakfast, and the normal thing would be to offer a drink with lunch too.

If so, then I don’t think you can call this neglect or a baby going “all day without food”. Fact is, they’ve eaten breakfast, eaten half what they were given for lunch, and had drinks with each meal (if so) before dinner at 5pm. Frankly sounds fairly normal. At worst, a bit crap for the lack of snacks and extra milk, but that’s all.

Surprising the amount of people who gleefully jumped to “neglect”.

Also - if she is a breastfeeding mother, it’s VERY common for baby to refuse drinks from all other sources until mum returns, then do a mega-breastfeed all evening and half the night to make up for it. Many working mums can attest to that!

I don’t understand how the child wasn’t screaming its head off!

Right, so the baby was offered food but he only ate some scrambled egg. That's not the same as saying he was "only given half an egg". The way you are telling this is very misleading. Did he refuse drinks too?

Baby was fed
Baby was changed
Baby was presumably looked after/played with

The only 'basic need' that hasn't been met is apparently a drink wasn't given between the one at breakfast and the one at tea time.

It doesn't sound like mum has returned to find a soiled, neglected and dangerously dehydrated baby but has discovered when presumably asking what baby has eaten/drunk during the day (a normal question to ask) that they didn't have much for dinner and none of the adults can remember giving a drink during the day.

Like I said. A bit shit but no harm actually done.

I suppose a child missing a lunch time meal could occasionally happen in a busy environment- if the adults are too busy for lunch themselves and the child doesn’t demand it/ is too busy playing/isn’t hungry. Providing it only happens occasionally and the child ate a full breakfast and dinner, I wouldn’t say it’s especially neglectful.

However no fluids at all between breakfast and dinner is absolutely neglectful! 😢 - you wouldn’t even leave an animal that long without access to water. Surely the adults must have had a drink themselves in that time period? It really needs to be automatic that the child gets offered milk or water every 2-3 hours, especially if he/she isn’t able to easily ask for it themselves yet.

If this wasn’t a one off for some exceptional reason (primary carers sudden illness?), then you really need to report it

This makes a little more sense, although it's still not really good enough from two adults (at least, if not more?)
What about bottles or drinks, why did they not happen?

Babies usually make their needs known - vocally. Presumably if she was hungry or thirsty, she’d have been wailing - and someone would then have thought to feed her. I agree, it’s not great if she was basically forgotten about, but you haven’t told us the circumstances (eg was she left at short notice in an emergency with pretty inexperienced people who meant well but didn’t know what they should be doing). If she hasn’t come to any harm, it’s probably better just to chalk it up as not the best day.

I think you need to say what the actual circumstances were before we can say if it was just a fuck up or neglect.

Teen cousin watching the baby during a family emergency - fuck up
Dad doing a shit job because he had a load of mates round to watch sport - neglect

Babies and toddlers are at a higher risk of dehydration than older kids and adults. In the course of a virus, if a baby throws up too much, they can need IV fluids. In this case, the baby may become listless and not even cry.

Horrific that someone would forget.

It's not 40 calories all day though is it.

The child had breakfast, half an egg for lunch and then tea after 5pm

The no water/milk is a problem but the baby will not have starved

The OP won't give more details but aside from the lack of liquids which is bad, it's not 40 calories.

Surely a 13 month old would make it known they wanted something by crying, or pointing? I don’t believe a child of that age wouldn’t make a noise because it had ‘learned to be quiet’.

Not acceptable, but if this person wasn't familiar with the baby were they given a schedule or routine at all? At least told when the baby usually has bottles?

Did the adults go without any drink for the duration out of interest?

Has the kid come to any harm?

No drink all day? Not even water? Or milk?

In the hubbub of the day forgetting to meet the baby's basic needs? What on earth could be happening in the house that would make someone who's supposed to be caring for an infant just forget to even give them a sip of water. It's crap and you shouldn't minimise it.

I think it matters what the child was offered as well as what they actually ate? Based on the half a scrambled egg my instinct is that you're describing what was actually consumed? There were definitely days my DS ate almost nothing but I was regularly offering him things. I was told by HCPs that as long as he was well in himself, having wet nappies and playing etc. that his appetite would change day to day and just to follow his lead, offer him a variety of food and trust that he'd eat when hungry.

In fact around that age I felt like I was spending my entire days making food except half of the days it was all going in the bin and other half he was like a bottomless pit.

The liquid is more concerning but again even now sometimes my DS at 2 years old drinks very little and other days drinks a lot. When I try to force it it becomes a power struggle, he completely refuses to drink and it makes it worse. He still has wet nappies and is happy and alert so he's clearly getting enough water overall but his water consumption is very inconsistent.

I can't remember the ages but don't most children stop having daytime bottles of formula/milk at 12 months old? I feel like my health visitor was trying to get us to stop really quite early. We continued giving milk anyway, but I was under the impression that at 13 months old they wouldn't be drinking bottles of milk regularly throughout the day anyway. I may be remembering the ages wrong though.

I don't know. I definitely see the "of course it's neglect" and I'm not trying to excuse it. It's just that there's not much detail given and I'm confused because I'd expect that the child would be crying if hungry or thirsty.

I think there is a massive difference between a child who is crying in hunger and being ignored vs a child who is busy playing and throws their toast on the floor and doesn't want anything for a day.