A newborn baby was abandoned in the city center of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Monday after being left in the care of a woman who was begging in the street with her four children.

The person presumed to be the mother asked the woman, identified only as Alicia, to look after the baby, telling her that she couldn’t enter the store with it and complaining of pain in her arm. She left the newborn with a bag with diapers, a can of powdered milk and a baby bottle with prepared formula.

After waiting about three hours for the baby’s mother to return, Alicia was assisted by passersby to contact the police.

Red Cross paramedics diagnosed the baby with a fever and it was transferred to a maternal and children’s hospital in Guadalupe City. The infant was reported Wednesday to be in stable condition.

Authorities have taken DNA samples from the baby, requested video footage from security cameras and interviewed owners of local businesses to try to identify the mother.

In an interview with Televisa Alicia said she had considered continuing to look after the baby, and even thought a name for him, but was advised to call the police.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident a newborn baby was found lifeless outside a house in the north of the city Wednesday inside a plastic bag and wrapped in a blanket.

With reports from El Universal, Televisa and Debate