Gardai were called to the Coombe Women's Hospital in Dublin after a relative of a woman who had just given birth to a girl tried to swap her for another patient's baby boy.
The man approached a patient who had a newborn male baby, saying his relative already had a daughter and he wanted a boy instead of another baby girl, according to a representative of the maternity hospital.
The hospital master, Dr Sean Daly, said the woman who was approached was upset by the incident and reported it to nursing staff. The staff immediately notified the Garda, who later spoke to the man at Kevin Street Station.
Dr Daly said the woman approached by the man was "distressed and concerned. She reported it and we acted upon it. We explained the inappropriateness of such a request and informed the gardai because we would take any potential threat to a woman or her baby seriously".
Both mothers have returned home with their own babies since the incident last Wednesday.
The man who made the approach was a relative of the woman who had just had the baby, but not her husband, as was believed initially. It is understood that both he and the mother were Romanian.
Dr Daly said the hospital has comprehensive security measures and that any threat or potential threat to patients is taken very seriously, which was why gardai were alerted.
A Garda representative said inquiries were made following the incident, but no charges were brought, as no crime was committed.