A mother has come under fire after filming herself dancing next to her sick baby in the hospital.
Whitney Leavitt is a mother and social media influencer from Georgia who surprised her half a million followers by sharing a video in which she showed off her dance moves while staying at the hospital where her newborn son is battling pneumonia and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
In the short clip, the woman is seen dancing next to her sick son who is seen lying on a hospital bed. “Li’l Lee was taken in ‘cause of low oxygen. He tested positive for RSV. Waiting for him to breathe better on his own,” Leavitt captioned her dancing video.
Soon after sharing the clip on TikTok, the mother received a heavy backlash with people accusing her of dancing for views instead of comforting her ill son.
“As a pediatrician nurse I see this behavior a lot. It is sad. Many times while we are starting IV’s, drawing labs, and such, parents are on their phones recording all the trauma to their little ones for social media instead of comforting their sweet babes. So frustrating,” someone wrote.
“It takes a truly sick person to resort to a TikTok dance in a moment like this. That poor baby,” another said.
After the backlash, the mother removed her video and spoke out to explain her side of the story.
As Leavitt insists, she only made the video because she was trying to stay positive for her baby despite the tough situation.
“I understand that people are upset with the video that I made. I just want to be clear and communicate that that was just me trying to be positive,” the Georgia mom said in her video as she broke into tears.
“I think it’s important to not just assume what someone’s going through. I took it down because I can see how someone might get the wrong idea.
“That was honestly just me trying to be positive in this situation. I do want to say thank you to the people who have reached out to me and my family, and I really appreciate it.”
She also spoke out on Instagram to express her love for baby Lee and admit that his hospitalization makes her feel helpless and overwhelmed.
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