This is the moment a man carrying his infant nephew falls flat on his face after tripping on a step.

The uncle, who was not named in local media in Quanzhou, in the Fujian Province, China, was carrying the baby to its mother after the child had woken up from its nap.

CCTV footage shows him slowly walking down the hallway with his nephew in his arms as he pauses to speak apparently to his sister, the child’s mother.

But when the absent-minded uncle reaches the step, he loses his footing and falls down face-first on the hard floor.

He grabbs the baby tightly in his arms, desperately trying to shield it as he falls on top of it.

The baby’s mother immediately comes rushing and takes the child away, and begins scolding the seemingly confused man.

Luckily, the uncle was able to protect the child from any possible injuries, but hurt his own wrist and knee in the process.

And apparently, the baby’s mother later felt sorry and was thankful for her brother’s instincts to hug the child rather than save himself.

She uploaded the footage on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and said in the caption that she was later laughing as she watched it.

User ‘lonely king’ said: “This is a good uncle, the instinctive reaction is to protect the baby on the ground instead of throwing his hands to the ground.”