Baby receives pat-down at Kansas City airport

A photo posted on Twitter of a baby receiving a pat-down at Kansas City International Airport is the latest in a number of recent highly publicized incidents of airport security screenings involving young children.

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The photo taken by Kansas City pastor Jacob Jester on Saturday and posted on Twitter has been viewed nearly 300,000 times.

"I really didn't stop to think about what would happen," Jester told msnbc.com. "I just snapped a picture."

Jester said he was traveling to Albuquerque on Saturday when he noticed the woman behind him was traveling with a baby about the same age as his son. He had just passed through security when he looked back and saw the baby receiving the pat-down.

"My thinking was, this is an extreme measure. I wouldn't want that to happen to my own son," Jester said.

Jester, who said that he doesn't know the woman and her baby, snapped a picture with his phone and posted it on Twitter. "Just saw #tsa agents patting down a little baby at @KCIAirport. Pretty sure that’s extreme.”

The Transportation Security Administration posted a response on its blog: "We reviewed the screening of this family, and found that the child’s stroller alarmed during explosives screening. Our officers followed proper current screening procedures by screening the family after the alarm, who by the way were very cooperative and were on the way to their gate in no time."

TSA screeners are instructed to use a modified pat-down for children 12 and younger, according to the agency's website.

The latest incident follows recent highly publicized complaints over airport security screening procedures, including an 8-year-old boy who received a pat-down at Portland International Airport and parents upset after their six-year-old was frisked in New Orleans . Former Miss USA Susie Castillo also recently filed a complaint with TSA , claiming in a video that went viral that she felt "violated" after her groin area was touched four times during a security screening.

Jester said that he has great respect for the TSA and their efforts to keep the flying public safe.

"I'm not out to embarrass the TSA," Jester said. "But I do believe there has to be a line drawn. I do not believe that an 8-month-old constitutes a security threat."