The Mother Load

Today's Outrageous News Story has been all over the web all week. It came to me via an online friend, a mom like me who is in the strange habit of treating newborns gently, taking care to protect their vulnerable heads and necks. We're just backwards that way...at least according to some Russians.

The news clip that follows contains video clips of the growing Russian practice of swinging, bouncing, and flipping very young babies through the air by their hands. I couldn't watch the entire original video. I had to turn it off to avoid having a stroke. This one shows just enough to make me want to cry and then blessedly cuts back to the reporter.



You wanted to climb into your computer screen and rescue that baby, didn't you? Of course you did...because you are reasonable human beings. The fact that the baby is now a seemingly healthy 2 year old probably gives you small comfort.

Dr. Manny Alvarez of Fox News weighed in on the story, saying the woman in the video seems to be mimicking the actions of nonhuman primates, the kind that swing through trees and bend their bodies in ways humans can't (and shouldn't)...you know...the ones with opposable thumbs on their feet. Do you have opposable thumbs on your feet? No? I didn't think so.

I'll go ahead and join the chorus of people warning moms to not try this at home. If you have a baby, you plan to someday have a baby, or you know someone who gives you access to a baby, please don't swing that baby around like a monkey, no matter what you see Russian gurus doing on the internet.

If you want to see some baby yoga that doesn't make you want to invest in blood pressure medicine and baby aspirin, check out the video below.  This baby knows her yoga.