Mum defends viral TikTok video of her baby being tossed in swimming pool

The viral video shows an eight-month-old baby at an 'infant survival class'
Krysta Meyer

A mother-of-two has spoken out after a viral TikTok video of her eight-month-old son being tossed in a swimming pool sparked a debate online.

After joining the video-sharing app in February, one of Krysta Meyer's videos went viral and later racked up more than 50 million views on Twitter.

The clip is of her eight-month-old son Oliver, who is seen being dropped into a pool by a swimming instructor.

The instructor quickly jumps into the water after Oliver and watches as he makes his way to the surface and floats on his back.

In the background, Krysta can be heard saying: "whoo Oliver", as she applauds and cheers her son.

She wrote in the caption: "Oliver amazes me every week! I can't believe he is barely two months in and is catching on so fast. He is a little fish."

More than 120,000 people commented on the TikTok video, with some expressing concern for the baby.

One person said on Twitter: "I have 2 kids, both love the water and swimming, and I would never even think of doing this."

Another said in the comments on Tik Tok: "Lil mans not swimming he's fighting for his life."

Others said they were familiar with the methods and had taken their own children to similar swimming lessons.

Kayla said on Twitter: "Honestly it’s so smart for these parents to get their kids into swim lessons this young.

"And about the throwing of the child into the pool, in cases of drowning it’s not always a calm fall into the pool. This is how accidents happen. Better to be safe than sorry."

Krysta filmed the video on Saturday at the Little Fins Swim School's "infant survival class".

She told Buzzfeed News she has received death threats after sharing what she acknowledges is a controversial video.

"A lot of people are seeing a kid being thrown into the water and thinking, that's not good! You shouldn't be doing that!" she said.

"I've gotten death threats. I've had people tell me I'm the worst kind of mom, that I'm endangering my children, that I'm traumatising them."

Another video on Krysta's TikTok account shows her dropping her son Jayce into the water while upside down.

Little Fins co-owner Lauri Armstrong told BuzzFeed her instructors receive special training for the class, which is designed for children as young as six-months-old.

It aims not to teach the babies how to swim but how to get comfortable in the water and learn to float on their backs.

She said: "The whole premise behind what we do is safety.

"We teach 8-month-olds to assess their situation and find an exit strategy [in water]. I know it seems crazy."

Ms Armstrong urged parents not to copy the method of dropping their babies in water as seen in the video, unless they have specific training.

Bennett, the Parents Preventing Childhood Drowning co-founder, disagreed with the method, saying the babies were being dropped at "unrealistic heights".

"The first time I saw [the TikTok], I thought it was shocking," she said.

"It's not too high where the child is dropped into the water, but I've seen some at this facility where the child is held upside down and dropped in. That's very unrealistic and could potentially cause harm."

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