A desperate Washington state mom tried to sell her newborn baby to a customer at a roadside Taco Bell, authorities said.

Heidi Lynn Knowles, 36, appeared before a judge Monday to face charges she tried to peddle her 3-day-old boy to a woman who was eating at the fast food joint in Vancouver, Wash., last Thursday.

Cops said Knowles asked for bids between $500 and $5,000, KOIN television reported.

She was arrested at a nearby motel after the woman she approached called 911.

Deputies said she seemed drunk or high at the time of the bust though Knowles told them she'd been clean from methamphetamine for a year.

Child Protective Services took custody of the infant.

Court records showed that Knowles, who also goes by the name Heidi Lynn Gasaway, is unemployed and on welfare and food stamps.

She told police she was crashing at the Kay's Motel until she could find a homeless shelter.

A friend at the arraignment told KOIN that Knowles may have been suffering from postpartum depression and had already been turned away from a shelter.

The motel manager said Knowles claimed it was her sixth baby and that Knowles' father was paying her hotel bill.

"When I went into her room the baby was clean. It was obviously fed because it wasn't crying. It was usually napping like new babies do," Kay's manager Patty Morris told the station.

"It was always centered in the middle of the bed. She seemed to be doing a good job."

Knowles was charged with attempted child selling-buying and was held in lieu of $50,000 bail. She's also facing drug possession, theft and bail-jumping charges from outstanding warrants.