A TikTok mom who went viral for posting a dance video from her baby's hospital room said she was just trying to 'be positive'

• TikToker Whitney Leavitt posted a video dancing next to her hospitalized baby.
• She faced backlash and deleted the video, which has continued to circulate on Twitter.

A woman who posted a TikTok video dancing and smiling next to her baby's hospital bed has responded to backlash after the clip went viral on TikTok and Twitter.

According to The Daily Dot, the original video was posted on December 18, and received 1.6 million views within 24 hours before being deleted. It was captured and posted on Twitter by user @chaiconsumer the following day, where it has received an additional 2.7 million views. Their tweet, which said "Holy shit," has been liked over 30,000 times.

—Sandy (@chaiconsumer) December 19, 2021

The video shows the woman in what appears to be a baby's hospital room. She kisses the child and then performs a short TikTok dance while "Love" by Kendrick Lamar plays. On-screen text shows her answering a question from a viewer asking her "what happened." Her response reads, "lil lee was taken in cause of low oxygen. he tested positive for RSV. waiting for him to breathe better on his own."

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is common and usually causes mild cold-like symptoms, but can be serious for infants and lead to an inflammation of the airways in the lungs and pneumonia, according to the CDC.

The response on Twitter was overwhelmingly negative, with people suggesting her actions were insensitive. In a follow-up tweet, the poster said there were even users "wishing death" upon the mother. Some users did defend the woman, saying the criticism was "dramatic and judgemental," and arguing it was a valid way of coping with the situation.

On December 20, the TikToker, whose username is Whitney Leavitt, posted a tearful TikTok video addressing the controversy.

@whitleavitt ♬ original sound - Whitney Leavitt

"I understand that people are upset with the video that I made," she said. "That was me just trying to be positive. I think it's important to not just assume what someone's going through."

In the 47-second clip, she also confirmed she had taken the video down because she could see viewers could "get the wrong idea." The video has received over 800,000 views and 44,000 likes at the time of writing.

Leavitt has 480,000 TikTok followers, and frequently posts about her two children, often making short dance videos to respond to viewers' questions. On December 3 and 4 she posted a series of TikToks that appeared to show her and her husband dancing in the hospital room while in labor.

One of her most popular videos to date, with 11.2 million views, was uploaded on December 5 and shows her dancing in what appears to be a hospital room after giving birth in response to a viewer congratulating her on her new baby.

Leavitt also has a small YouTube channel featuring family content and a parenting podcast titled "The Monday Mama Podcast." She did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.