Victoria Gayle, 31, was charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body after police discovered the remains of a baby at her home last month.
Ms Gayle, previously of West Hendon, north London, appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Monday afternoon.
She spoke only to confirm her name, address, and date of birth.
The court heard a post-mortem examination took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital on 2 June but the cause of death could not yet be determined.
Ms Gayle was also charged with perverting the course of justice.
She was not asked to submit a plea and will appear at Kingston Crown Court on 8 July.
The charge follows a case review of an investigation into a child who went missing in 2004, which was sparked by the death of another child at an address in Barnet in 2015.
The investigation led to the arrest of a 50-year-old woman in Fryent Crescent, West Hendon in north London.
A 52-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of preventing a lawful and decent burial.
Both were bailed until mid-July.

3 February 2016 Last updated at 08:07 GMT
The British astronaut has been up there for six weeks, but took time out to speak to children and share some experiments.
Leah went to meet some of kids lucky enough to be able to talk direct to the astronaut...

The former army officer promised to be "even more dangerous than when I was in uniform".
He also vowed to turn his tiny West African nation into an "economic superpower" over the next five years.
President Jammeh first seized power in 1994 but was re-elected in December in a widely criticised poll.
"You cannot be in your offices every day doing nothing... and at the end of the day you expect to be paid," he said on a televised address on Wednesday.
"This has to stop. You either do your work or leave or go to jail," the president said.
"I will wipe out almost 82% of those in the workforce in the next five years starting this Friday unless they change their attitudes," he said - without elaborating.
Mr Jammeh also promised "zero tolerance" on corruption and drugs.
The Gambia - a popular destination for foreign tourists - has recently become a key transit point for cocaine trafficked from Latin America.
The president also promised to focus more on the empowerment of women and create more jobs for the youth.
Mr Jammeh - who first came to power in a bloodless coup in 1994 - has been criticised by international rights groups for suppressing any dissent.
On Tuesday, former Information Minister Amadou Scatred Janneh, a US citizen, was sentenced to life in jail for plotting a coup and distributing T-shirts with the slogan "End to Dictatorship Now".
A woman has been remanded in custody charged with covering up the death of a one-year-old for more than a decade.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Children across Britain linked up with Tim Peake on the International Space Station yesterday for a big question and answer session.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Yahya Jammeh has been sworn in for a fourth term as Gambia's president and promised to "wipe out 82%" of workers, accusing them of being lazy.