Mom called out for pic of baby on balcony ledge. Her response is raising eyebrows
Influencer Camila Coelho is facing backlash after she shared an Instagram photo of her 7-month-old son, Kai, propped on a balcony ledge.
In the picture, Coelho, 35, is shown with one arm supporting her baby boy, who is perched on a railing at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris. The snap, which features a jaw-dropping view of the Eiffel Tower, racked up more than 1.3 million likes, but fans expressed concern about Kai's well-being in comments.
“when u care more about the eiffel tower being in the shot than ur child’s safety,” one person commented .
Added another, “It takes a second for an accident to happen. It’s not worth the risk or pic.”
Several fans likened Coelho to the late pop star Michael Jackson, who in 2002, dangled his then-infant son Blanket over the edge of a hotel balcony. In response to the outrage, Jackson issued an apology. But Coelho doubled down, and posted a video of herself sipping tea while holding Kai in the same spot that drew the initial criticism.
“Oh dear, not again. So irresponsible to take a baby to close to the edge of a balcony. @camilacoelho You are an absolute style icon, but you need to take some level of personal responsibility for your actions as a social media influencer, knowing that others may copy you,” one disappointed fan wrote.
And the comments kept coming:
“Not only foolish holding a child over the edge of a balcony but using your other hand to hold a cup of tea, that your child was trying to take from you moving around in your one arm: there are so many ways this could have gone wrong…”
“This is horrible to watch, just look at the baby at the end trying to grab the tea towards the edge. Scary and insane.”
“One infant in one arm a cup of tea in the other hand on the edge of a balcony. Wtf.”
Coelho did not respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment.
Dr. Jay Lovenheim, a pediatrician in New Jersey, hopes Coelho didn't influence her followers to try the baby on a balcony pose.
"Your kid might pinch you, or make a sudden movement. There are so many situations where you can't anticipate what's going to happen — even if you think you can," Lovenheim tells TODAY.com. "For that reason, you always want to be in a position where if God forbid you drop your baby, it's as safe as it can be. If a baby falls from a large height, it's going to be catastrophic."
Dr. Arun Chopra, chief of pediatrics service at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, warns that young children don't have a sense of danger — and they're also extremely unpredictable.
"They tend to throw themselves around and try to investigate the world," Chopra tells TODAY.com. "When you're holding an infant — whether it's on a ledge or just walking down the street — they can generate a lot of force just by flipping their body backwards, and that's gonna be hard to hold onto."
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This article was originally published on TODAY.com
