A viral video of a mother using fastening strips to strap her baby to a plane seat has sparked intense debate on social media.
Lisa Flom posted a video about travelling with her child on TikTok, in which she attached two strips of hook-and-loop fastenersto the seat and two strips to her baby’s trousers so that the baby was unable to wriggle too much – and thousands of people commented.
Supporters of the mother’s travel hack argued that it prioritised the infant’s safety during flight, keeping the tot secure so that she could fall from the seat or climb out of their chair and cause a hazard in the aisles.
It was also suggested that giving the baby their own seat was safer than riding on a parents lap, should there be any turbulence.
The video, which had 941,000 likes on TikTok and a further 146,000 Instagram likes, showed the baby unable to bend down and pick things up and also trying to wriggle but then giving up and sitting still.
But one commenter suggested that it would not work for most babies saying “that will result in the baby taking their pants off and running naked around the plane.”
Other followers were also unimpressed, saying that a standard lap belt provided by airlines was sufficient and that additional harness could cause discomfort for the baby.
And some suggested that a car seat would provide a more comfortable way of keeping the tot secure, with over the shoulder harnesses less restrictive than Velcro-style fastenings.
However, it’s most likely that the video was posted as a joke, with social media users quick to point out that it wasn’t the first time Lisa Flom had posted about using sticky tape or Velcro to keep children in one place.
The influencer, who now has 824,000 followers on social media, has also posted about sticking her child to a ride-on suitcase so she can drag them safely through an airport.
In her most recent TikTok video, she used tape to keep her baby sitting on the sofa instead of putting them in a play pen or asking another adult to mind them.
“All these people commenting on the baby’s safety need to wake up and see that this is meant to be funny, not serious!” commented one TikTok user on the plane video. Several others echoed the sentiment with another saying “LOL at anyone taking this video seriously.”