A first-time mum’s lighthearted TikTok video demonstrating her decision not to allow close relatives to kiss her newborn sparked a major debate online.

But doctors and paediatric infectious disease experts say the parent spurred an important conversation – and there are serious health risks everyone should consider when visiting a new baby.

Haeli Christiansen told People magazine she did not expect her post with her mum to go viral. In the TikTok video posted on 1 Jan, Christiansen is seen standing over her mum and her baby boy, before she leans in to kiss her son on his face.

But when her mum, who is seated while holding the baby, leans in to similarly kiss the baby, Christiansen taps her mum on the head to stop her.

“Gently reminding my mum to not kiss my newborn,” she wrote in the text overlay of the video. In the caption of the post she wrote with a laughing-face emoji: “The word of the day is ‘boundaries.’”

Christiansen explained to People that the video was made in good fun, and that her mum had actually advised her not to let anyone kiss her newborn. Christiansen told the publication that she was hospitalised twice as a baby due to family members kissing her without realising they were sick.

“My husband and I made the decision to not have extended family or friends kiss our newborn for the first few months after birth because he was born in the middle of ‘sick season’ and newborns don’t have an immune system,” she said. “A common cold for adults could land a newborn in the hospital and be a life-threatening situation.”

Christiansen told People that she was “shocked” her video spurred such a debate online. Her TikTok post garnered over 730,000 “likes” with nearly 4,000 comments. While many commenters agreed with Christiansen’s boundaries on whom she allows to kiss her newborn, others criticised her for preventing her mum from kissing her son.

“Sad, poor grandma,” one commenter wrote.

“I will never deny my child genuine love,” another commenter wrote.

“I would never do that to my mum,” wrote another.

While parents are entitled to make their own decisions about the boundaries they set with relatives visiting their newborns, we spoke to paediatricians and paediatric infectious disease specialists who warned about the potential health risks associated with people kissing babies – especially on the face.

Pediatricians and pediatric infectious disease specialists warned about the potential health risks associated with people kissing newborns.

You can spread a virus to a newborn before realising you’re sick

For starters, it’s........

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