Mother accused of abandoning her 10-month-old baby on the beach is branded a horrible parent by trolls

A mother who was accused of ‘abandoning’ her baby on the beach to go for a swim has hit back at critics who branded her ‘horrible’.

Influencer Renee, 28, who documents her life on TikTok as a ‘boy mum’ of two in BrisbaneAustralia, took part in a popular social media trend where people keep their phone recording while they leave the frame and ask viewers to ‘keep an eye’ something in their absence – like a pet.

And in a clip which has now racked up four million views, she decided to film her sleeping baby relaxing in the shade while she went for a swim.

While followers were outraged by the idea that she would leave her toddler unattended, Renee has since stressed that she had arranged for someone to look after her child the whole time, and that the video was meant to be light-hearted fun.

On the same beach the previous day, she had connected with another parent and their family – and Renee had felt safe leaving her child in their care for a moment for the video.

‘As a mum, I am constantly risk assessing and taking in our surroundings, especially now with two kids,’ she shared.

‘I felt very comfortable leaving him there with not only (the other mum) watching him, but also me and my partner watching from the water.

‘In the video, we may look far away, however, it was only about 10 metres.

‘He only stayed asleep for four minutes before waking up.’

Despite being just seconds long, the post attracted thousands of comments.

‘This has to be a joke right?’ one user asked.

‘Do not ever do this again,’ another viewer said.

A third said that ‘with the way the world is going with current events, just how human nature is now, I would’ve never let my child there’ – while a fourth insisted that ‘I won’t even leave my phone, WTF, a baby? Are you serious?’

However, not everyone was so outraged – as others stressed it is clearly a joke.

‘People really believe the baby is really alone,’ one quipped, as a second added: ‘How everyone’s turning into helicopter parents in the comments! You’re doing everything right, and you’re absolutely right to go swimming. You’re not just a mother, you’re also a person, and it wasn’t five hours, but maybe five or ten minutes.’

Renee had to edit her caption to assure viewers that ‘he is being watched’.

‘No one is out here stealing babies- please just take it as a joke,’ she added. ‘Mumma wants to have a swim too. I would have never done this with my first baby but second time around I’m doing things different.’

Renee, a registered nurse, explained that while it is not evident in the footage, there was always someone watching her 10-month old, and that there ‘was never any risk that anyone would kidnap’ him.

‘I had seen a trend where people would sit their babies in front of their phone and then leave the room, asking the internet to watch their baby, so I decided to set my phone up to do that,’ she continued.

‘There was very minimal thought into it – I posted the video as a bit of light-hearted fun and did not intend to upset anyone.

‘Some people lack critical thinking; they watch a 20-second video and comment quite horrible things with no context, which is very strange to me.’