A mum was filmed flushing the head of her three-year-old son in the toilet as punishment for swearing .

Kaitlyn Wolf said she had planned to wash her toddler’s mouth out with soap - a traditional punishment for a child with a naughty mouth - but decided to discipline him another way.

The mum, from Leesburg in Virginia, says she decided to flush his head down the toilet after seeing it happen in movie.

In the footage she can be seen holding her son’s arms behind his back with his head above the toilet as she dips it in the water. It is not known what expletive the boy said, reports the Mirror.

But Wolf defended the punishment after the video went viral prompting widespread condemnation.

She said: ‘It was a joke between the three of us. My sons and I horseplay rough,’ Wolf said. ‘We stuck his head in the toilet and flushed it. And my older son was recording it.’

Wolf said she sent the video to the boy’s babysitter.

‘I sent it to her as a joke, like, ‘Haha. This is the new way you can discipline them,’’ she said. ‘So she sent it to my boyfriend’s ex, who sent it out and made it go viral.’

Wolf said her son was never in danger and that he never ‘got his face wet’.

Speaking to local media she said: ‘His head was never under the water, his face never got wet. It was maybe the top or this part of his hair,’ she said. ‘It’s scary to think I might lose my children over this - over a joke that we played.’

Writing on Facebook , the Leesburg Police Department said: ‘The Leesburg Police has received many calls and posts about a recently shared video on Facebook, showing a woman holding her son’s head inside the rim of a toilet.

‘The incident is currently under investigation by the Dept. of Children and Families. Detectives are working with the State Attorneys Office to determine criminal prosecution.’

Wolf said she has received death threats and that she regrets the stunt.

‘It was just a game I didn’t inflict harm on him. He didn’t have any bruise or cuts. He was laughing during the video.

‘Everybody just stop Facebooking me and telling me you want me to die,’ Wolf said. ‘I get it.’