A mum who “abandoned” her baby on the beach to go for a swim has sent TikTok users into a rage.
Renee, 28, says she made an innocent video, participating in a trend where people ask their viewers to “keep an eye” on someone.
But the reaction she got wasn’t quite what she was expecting, with the clip racking up over four million views.
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On the same beach the previous day, the mum had connected with another parent and their family – and Renee had felt safe leaving her child in their care for a moment.
“As a mum, I am constantly risk assessing and taking in our surroundings, especially now with two kids,” Renee, from Brisbane, Australia, told What’s The Jam.
“I felt very comfortable leaving him there with not only [the other mum] watching him, but also me and my partner watching from the water.
“In the video, we may look far away, however, it was only about 10 metres.
“He only stayed asleep for four minutes before waking up.”
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In the video, Renee can be seen putting her sleeping baby down in the shade before heading to the shore.
The mum-of-two’s video was viewed four million times and attracted over a thousand comments.
One person said: “This has to be a joke right?”
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“That’s horrible,” said another viewer.
Someone else commented: “With the way the world is going with current events, just how human nature is now, I would’ve never let my child there.”
“Do not ever do this again,” said another viewer.
One person commented: “I won’t even leave my phone, WTF, a baby? Are you serious?”
“I would never,” someone else agreed.
Renee, a registered nurse, said that while it is not evident in the footage, there was always someone watching her 10-month old, and that there “was never any risk that anyone would kidnap” him.
On why she shared the clip, the mum said: “I had seen a trend where people would sit their babies in front of their phone and then leave the room, asking the internet to watch their baby, so I decided to set my phone up to do that.
“There was very minimal thought into it – I posted the video as a bit of light-hearted fun and did not intend to upset anyone.
“Some people lack critical thinking; they watch a 20-second video and comment quite horrible things with no context, which is very strange to me.”
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