A father has been detained after posting a video showing how he shook and twisted his six-week-old daughter as he held her upside down by one leg.
Igor Kravtasov, 35, from Moscow, a social media influencer, said he believed babies should be treated like monkeys.
His wife Darya Getmanskaya, 27, the girl’s mother, has been detained for ten days, too, after failing to intervene, and social services are considering whether to strip the couple of their parental rights, say reports.
This follows an outcry by Russian childcare experts when the juggling footage went viral.
Igor Kravtasov, 35, from Moscow, a social media influencer, posted a video shaking and twisting his six-week-old daughter as he held her upside down by one leg
He has been detained by police in Russia after posting the video saying he believes babies should be treated like monkeys
The footage of him juggling his daughter went viral, prompting outcry from Russian childcare experts
His wife Darya Getmanskaya, 27, left, the girl’s mother, has been detained for ten days, after failing to intervene
They said gyrating the tiny baby around upside down risks major health damage including a broken neck – but the father’s supporters have claimed his stunt was akin to baby yoga or infant gymnastics.
The child is in a Sochi hospital undergoing medical checks.
Kravtasov – who whistled as he twirled her around – admitted he had been ‘careless’ with the child but added: ‘I have my own views on how to treat kids.
‘If we look at little monkeys, they are very agile creatures…
‘We are descended from monkeys, so we need to develop this activity in early childhood…
‘This helps the correct formation of bones.
‘Ligaments and joints become more mobile.’
But neonatologist Vera Pushkareva told Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) insisted: ‘In no case should a baby be shaken.
Kravtasov – who whistled as he twirled his daughter around – admitted he had been ‘careless’ with the child
Social services are considering whether to strip the couple of their parental rights after the viral video
‘When a person shakes a child violently, the unsecured head dangles.
‘Weak neck muscles are not yet able to work properly.
‘In addition, in babies the blood vessels are still imperfect.
‘All this can provoke a haemorrhage.’
She warned that ‘joints and bones in children are soft, and very violent shaking can lead to displacement of the vertebrae or lead to other problems.
The father added he had his ‘own views on how to treat kids’ and said: ‘If we look at little monkeys, they are very agile creatures’
The trend in videos of this kind has provoked one demand ‘to take children away from sadists’ as the parents of the baby are quizzed by police
The child is receiving medical checks at a Sochi hospital but the father’s supporters have claimed his stunt was akin to baby yoga or infant gymnastics
‘What the man did in the video is incomprehensible…he could have just broken her neck.’
But a columnist with KP, Zhanna Golubitskaya, said modern US and British child care manuals recommended just such exercises with babies.
It is not the first such video recently in Russia.
The trend provoked one demand ‘to take children away from sadists’, stripping them of rights to raise their offspring.