KANSAS CITY (AP) – A Kansas City mother has been charged with failing to promptly seek treatment after her baby was severely burned in bathwater.

The Jackson County prosecutor’s office said Ernestine Swinton was charged Saturday with abuse or neglect of a child or an alternative charge of first-degree child endangerment. The 26-year-old also faces a second-degree domestic assault charge. Prosecutors have requested a $50,000 cash bond. It wasn’t immediately known if she had an attorney.

Court documents say Swinton told police that her son’s skin began to fall off after she placed him in a hot bath on Christmas Eve. But she said she treated his injury at home because she feared losing custody.

Police were called Jan. 8, and a medical examination revealed a burn covering 20 percent of the boy’s body.