Mums learn babies were switched at birth 38 years ago

Vasilya Baimurzina and Valentina Baulina gave birth Alyona and Gulsina at the maternity hospital in Kizilskoye, in rural Russia but the infants became mixed up.

The children grew up looking nothing like their respective parents, with dark-haired Vasilya raising fair-haired Gulsina, and fair-haired Valentina raising dark-haired Alyona.

Following years of speculation their child might not be their own, Vasilya and Valentina agreed to take a DNA test which revealed their daughters had been switched at birth.

The results of the tests were revealed on a popular talk show the NTV channel.

“At the age of 12 I heard conversations for the first time between my parents that I was supposedly not their own,” Alyona told the show.

“Then I found information about who could be my real relatives and went to visit the Baimurzins.”

Vasilya had turned to the show for help with a DNA test after refusing to believe Gulsina wasn’t her daughter.

As the results were read out, all four began crying and an emotional Valentina said to her biological daughter: “My honey! My Sunshine!”

The woman Guslina believed to be her sister – Guslana – said she had long suspected that she was not her biological sibling.

“Gulsina was fair from birth, and I am dark,” she told the 74.ru website.

“We saw that she was not like us, but did not attach any importance to it. Because dad also had a fair child from his first marriage.

“And my mother had sisters with white hair in her family. But rumours were creeping that a fair one was growing here, and a dark one in another village.

“My mother did not want to believe it, because she always considered Gulsina her daughter.”

Both families have reportedly decided to be friends and maintain a warm relationship.

Alyona, who is now an entrepreneur, and school janitor Gulsina, are demanding almost $40,000 from Russia’s Ministry of Finance after learning about the bungle.

The current hospital manager Alla Vasilyeva issued an official apology to the women ahead of their first hearing on April 27 but said members of staff involved at the time were no longer alive.

She also said she was not sure how the babies’ name tags could have come off and been reattached incorrectly.

Vasilyeva explained that babies are given tags in front of mothers after they have given birth.

“In order to avoid any confusion, right there, in the presence of my mother, the surname, who was born, the date, weight is written on the tags, and these tags are tied to both pens,” 74.ru reports.

“Then one big tag is tied on top of a diaper so that the children are not confused when feeding.

“And these tags are not removed before discharge. Therefore, to be honest, it is difficult for me to even imagine how this could happen, at what stage.”

Local media note that the typical compensation awarded in cases such as these is around $5500 and the lawsuit is ongoing.

Their lawyer Vyacheslav Kurilin said no individual was being singled out for blame.

But he added: “At the same time, I believe that both daughters and both mothers should receive compensation for moral damage.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission