A two-year-old boy was in intensive care today after being found so malnourished that he weighed less than half as much as a normal child his age.

The toddler, whose heart had stopped, weighed between 8 and 10 pounds and had no hair or muscle tone when emergency responders arrived at his home in Moses Lake, Washington.

His mother, who said she chose to consult a Chinese herbalist when it came to health matters for her son, was seen attempting to perform CPR when emergency workers arrived.