Wichita ? An 11-day-old Wichita boy apparently escaped injury after being left alone for an hour in a parked minivan in 100-degree heat. Now he’s in protective custody.

The baby’s father said the mother forgot her son was in the vehicle when she went into a Wichita Wal-Mart with her 15-year-old daughter Sunday afternoon.

“They forgot he was with them,” said the father, who did not want to be identified. “She would not leave him in the vehicle intentionally.”

The man said the boy’s mother was near a dressing room when she heard another baby crying and suddenly remembered her own son was in the minivan.

At that moment, the man said, the mother “took off running for the van” and called 911. She was crying, he said.

The baby was admitted to a hospital for observation but did not appear to be injured, police said Sunday. The boy was released from the hospital Monday in good condition.

The van’s tinted windows might have helped shield the baby from the heat, said Lt. Roy Mitchell, supervisor of Sedgwick County’s Exploited and Missing Child Unit.

Mitchell said the baby’s family was cooperating with investigators. State child-welfare officials also are expected to investigate, police said.

The father said he and the mother are having a hard time dealing with their baby being taken away from them — even temporarily.

The family’s three other children remain at home with their parents.