A first-time mom “slapped” her mother who had leaned in to kiss her newborn as a “gentle reminder,” sparking backlash and confusion across the internet.
The short viral clip, which has been viewed more than 12 million times since it was published on Jan 1, shows Haeli Christiansen kissing her baby son on the forehead as her mother cradles him in her arms.
As her mother then attempted to follow suit, Christiansen reached over and lightly “slapped” her on the head to stop her from kissing the baby.
“Gently reminding my mom not to kiss the newborn,” Christiansen wrote in the text that appeared onscreen.
The clip, which was captioned “the word of the day is ‘boundaries,’” sparked backlash from viewers who questioned why the baby’s grandmother was blocked from kissing her grandson. Others rushed to Christiansen’s defense and said they understood why the new mom would not want anyone kissing her newborn.
“I would never do that to my mom! Stranger yes but never to my mom or family,” wrote one TikToker user.
“I would be so sad as a grandma,” shared another.
“I’m too European for this,” one user joked.
“A lot of these comments are exactly why so many people have cold sores,” one user commented, defending the “slap.”
“I respected my daughter by not kissing my grandbaby. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she ever got sick cuz of me,” another wrote.
Christiansen said she wasn’t expecting her video to go so viral and trigger a debate among viewers.
“We made the video and laughed about it, thinking it would maybe get a few hundred views and that it would be relatable to new moms…not spark the massive debate that it has!” Christiansen told People on Jan. 13.
She added that “a lot of people said I was a bad mom, ruining my baby’s life or that we didn’t deserve support or love from family if they weren’t allowed to kiss him,” but Christiansen assured that “the video was obviously a joke.”
“I don’t slap my mom, and she has a great relationship with me and my son,” she said.
Christiansen said her own mother was the one who “emphasized” that no one should be allowed to kiss her newborn aside from his parents and that she was protecting her newborn’s health.
“My husband and I made the decision not have extended family or friends kiss our newborn for the first few months after birth because he was born in the middle of ‘sick season’ and newborns don’t have an immune system,” the new mom told the outlet.
“A common cold for adults could land a newborn in the hospital and be a life-threatening situation.”
Christiansen said the boundary was also shaped by her own childhood experiences, noting she was hospitalized multiple times as an infant after relatives kissed and got her sick.
“When I was a baby, I was hospitalized twice on two separate occasions from family kissing me without realizing they were sick,” she shared.
“So my mom is actually one of the biggest advocates for not kissing my baby herself.”
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