Aussie mum reveals the simple act she performed on a plane that made her violently ill for five days

An Australian mother has revealed she was left ill for almost a week after a simple action she performed while looking after her children on an international flight.

Influencer Indy Clinton and her husband Ben Azar recently flew from Fiji to Australia with their three young children.

When one of the children’s pacifiers fell to the floor of the plane, Indy decided to “clean the pacifier with her mouth” before handing it back to her child, according to her Instagram Stories.

The 27-year-old woman says she believes one action caused her to become seriously ill.

I fell [like death]the social media star wrote on Monday, before adding that she had now had “fever and chills” for the “fifth night” in a row.

“Don’t clean your child’s pacifier with your mouth if he or she falls on the floor of the plane,” Clinton advised her followers.

She then joked, “The best thing about eating on the floor of the plane is that I lost my appetite.”

Clinton faced criticism on social media earlier this week after posting a chaotic video of herself and her family on a plane to her TikTok account.

Clinton and her husband Ben Azar recently flew from Fiji to Australia with their three young children. But when one of the children’s pacifiers fell to the floor of the plane, Indy decided to ‘clean it out with her mouth’

The clip shows the couple’s children climbing on the shoes and making a lot of noise.

Indy also complained about her kids dropping their pacifiers on the floor and whined about the size of airplanes.

At one point, Ben was filmed pacing up and down the cabin’s aisle in bare feet as he tried to rock one of the children to sleep.

Users took to Reddit to criticize the mummy blogger for her behavior.

“Is anyone else annoyed by her lack of respect and consideration for other people on the plane because she lets her annoying, noisy, crazy children have their way with her?” someone fumed.

“How bloody annoying for all the passengers. She has air for brains, she wouldn’t even consider the people around her and their frustrations. I get frustrated that they only watch the videos. What a selfish bitch she is.”

‘The griping about the size of the plane really got to me, as if Qantas had a personal vendetta against her and had sent their smallest plane. God forbid she had to fly economy on a normal plane,’ read another reply.

“Wow, prayers for millionaire Indy who had to take a 5 hour flight, with the help of her husband, with the kids she wanted, from another paid trip to paradise. How will she recover? Is there a way we can donate? A Gofundme?” one said sarcastically.

“The father is taking on the burden because he carries some sort of parental guilt. Like I said before, she’s like a 14 year old raising babies,” someone else wrote.

The 27-year-old said she believes one action caused her to become seriously ill

I fell [like death]the social media star wrote on Monday, before adding that she had been experiencing “fever and chills” for the fifth night in a row

Other Redditors were more understanding, emphasizing that flying with children is difficult anyway.

“Flying with kids is tough. Most people on that flight had kids, she said, I assume most of them did the same,” wrote one.

While another responded: ‘I was on a plane with my child the other day, along with a bunch of other kids. I can tell you, none of them acted like this.’

Meanwhile, in the comments on the original video, Ben warned that he shouldn’t walk barefoot on the plane.

“As a cabin crew member I highly recommend you do not walk onto the plane barefoot. You don’t want to know what was on that floor that wasn’t cleaned properly,” said one follower.

“So probably don’t give your child a pacifier if it’s fallen on the floor,” another fan replied.

“I love you guys but I could never walk on a plane without shoes. My fear!” wrote another follower.

Indy has over 1.9 million followers on TikTok and was crowned TikTok Creator of the Year in Australia in 2024.

She has three children with her husband Ben: son Navy, three, daughter Bambi, one, and daughter Soul, eight months.