A McDonald's employee in California was arrested for attempting to flush her newborn baby in the fast food restaurant's bathroom.

The employee was identified as 25-year-old Sarah Lockner.

Lockner allegedly went to the bathroom after her evening shift in Redwood City after experiencing stomach pains.

A co-worker checked on her and said she found a pool of blood outside the cubicle and another looked over and saw Lockner holding a newborn baby.

Lockner reportedly tried to flush the baby down the toilet and told her co-worker not to call the police because she was just having a "heavy period."

Responders said Lockner told them that she was not aware that she was not pregnant.

"Her boyfriend said he did not know either, and none of her co-workers knew," Karen Guidotti, chief deputy district attorney of San Mateo County told The Mercury News.

The Daily Journal reported that the newborn baby was found without a pulse and was not breathing.

The baby was immediately taken to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and was placed in a medically induced coma. He has been since taken off life support and is expected to survive.

"We can all agree the facts of this case are pretty shocking. An infant, a newborn, is incredibly vulnerable. It is shocking to the community a person would behave this way with a helpless newborn," Guidotti said.

Mari Martinez, Lockner's co-worker in the Chestnut street branch, told The Independent that it was a tragedy and that nobody was talking about her because she was a new employee.

Lockner is charged with attempted murder among other charges including inflicting great harm to a child.

Should she be convicted, she will be sentenced to a life imprisonment.

Earlier this week, she appeared in court, but prosecutors said she did not enter any pleas. She is set to appear in court again over the weekend.