Toddler left in car at NSW shopping centre

A mother who left her two-year-old boy locked inside a car for an hour while she went shopping in Sydney has been charged.

A member of the public noticed the boy inside the vehicle at a Bankstown carpark on Monday afternoon and alerted police.

Officers broke into the locked car to remove the distressed toddler, who was taken to hospital and treated for dehydration, police said on Wednesday.

The boy's 29-year-old mother only returned to the car after being paged in the shopping centre.

She's been given a court attendance notice for leaving a child in a motor vehicle while causing emotional distress and is due to appear at Bankstown Local Court next month.