Why Is This Baby Squashed Into A Tube? It Actually Makes Perfect Sense

A picture of a baby getting an x-ray has had the internet in a stupor. And it’s easy to see why, because it’s one of the most peculiar sights that you’re likely to see this weekend.

You can have a full look at the bizarre way in which a child is x-rayed below.

This how you X-Ray a baby. pic.twitter.com/HdGhv7qJHe

— Gautam Trivedi (@Gotham3) June 20, 2015

Weird, right? The internet started to go crazy for the above image after it was originally uploaded to Reddit by user Bretstar.

And even though the baby in the above picture looks as though they are incredibly uncomfortable in the tube, it’s all necessary.

The cylinder gives an x-ray for the infant, and then provides the doctors with the results of the medical test.

Bretstar explained that he decided to share the picture after he learned what the machine was for. According to the Metro, Bretstar worked in a hospital and had always wondered what its purpose was.

“I worked as a floor guy buffing and scrubbing at a hospital and every time I got to x-ray and radiology I always saw this machine sitting in the hallway and had to move it. I never once saw the x-ray tech grab it.

“I had no idea that is what this was. This pic answers a 3-year-old question I never asked.”

One user devised a rather ingenious plan for why they are going to keep a copy of this picture readily available. They want to use it to explain to their own child that this is where babies comes from.

“I’m totally saving this picture for when my 8-year-old asks me where babies come from and how they get in the mom’s belly. ‘See, sweetie, the doctors load the baby into the hopper on top, and this machine compresses the baby, and using high pressure, inserts it into the belly of the mom-to-be.”

[Image via SNMMD]