A new mom has caused a serious social media divide after she performed and posted a TikTok dance next to her newborn son who was hospitalized for RSV. Whitney Leavitt, from Utah, revealed that her son Liam was diagnosed with a respiratory syncytial virus, leaving him unable to breathe on his own – news she broke while dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s “Love” blasted and her son lay in a crib next to her with breathing tubes in place.
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— belle. (@mejesseandari) December 19, 2021
- She’s since deleted her post because of the backlash. The original video was captioned: “Lil Lee was taken [to the hospital] cause of low oxygen. He tested positive for RSV. Waiting for him to breathe better on his own.” She even added a red heart emoji for good measure.
- Many people thought Leavitt’s behavior was in poor taste. Given that her newborn son couldn’t breathe on his own and was therefore in pretty serious condition, many people thought it was completely inappropriate to be posting TikTok dancing challenges. “Baby in hospital very sick. Mom makes tik tok video dancing next to baby. This generation should not reproduce,” one person wrote. Another added: “The baby [is going to] grow up & be like ‘I was fighting for my life & you was out here making TIKTOKS?'”
- However, not everyone thought it was a problem. Not everyone was a critic of her behavior. Some believed she was doing the right thing for remaining upbeat during what must be a very stressful time. “A lot of y’all moms ain’t passing the vibe check on that video going around of the young mother dancing next to her baby in the hospital,” one supporter wrote. “You don’t get to judge someone who has probably not had a shower or any sleep in over 24 hours. Someone who is clearly stressed and manic.”
- Leavitt has since come back online to explain. As a replacement for the original video, Leavitt posted another in which she was crying while explaining what motivated her to post the dance. “I understand that people are upset with the video that I made,” she said. “I just want to be clear and communicate that that was me just trying to be positive. I think it’s important to not just assume what someone is going through. Anyways, I took the video down because I could see where somebody could get the wrong idea. But that honestly was just me just trying to be positive in this situation.”
@whitleavitt
