Unless you need to get your child X-rayed, it's probably not something you think about that often. But if you do, you probably have such questions as "how do they protect them from excessive radiation?" and "how the hell do you keep a child still for long enough to take the damn thing in the first place?"

Well, the answer is something called, genuinely, a Pigg-O-Stat, and it's ridiculously adorable, as the Internet has recently discovered. A tweet showing photos of the device in action has been retweeted over 140,000 times.

The device has been around since the 1960s, but if you're getting your child X-rayed "this would make a hilarious viral photo" is probably the last thing on your mind, which might be why most people haven't really seen them until recently.

According to the maker's website, "the Pigg-O-Stat is an all-in-one pediatric immobilization device designed for positioning infants and young children for an appropriate X-ray without significant complications."

Limiting anyone's exposure to radiation during medical investigations is always a concern for doctors, but it's especially important when dealing with young children. The device helps make sure it's not necessary to take several X-rays in order to get a usable shot.

"Unlike other medical exams or procedures that may allow a parent to secure an infant, X-rays are not forgiving for movements. The Pigg-O-Stat safely secures the child and allows the X-ray technician to be brief and efficient while the child remains immobilized."

It's a novel solution to a problem you probably hadn't thought about, a vital safety device for medical practitioners, and, as one Redditor put it, it makes babies look like "a mint condition, limited edition, baby action figurine" or like they've been "shot into space or teleported somewhere".

Radiographers appear to like it. "Those things work great," one person wrote on Reddit. "In Alaska I had like 5-10 infant chest X-rays a day and that thing made my job 100 percent easier. Parents typically suck at holding their kids still."

Another, where the device was unavailable, improvised something similar.

The verdict from the kids is mixed. Some of them look furious.

Others just accept it, because everything is new and weird to babies.

And some look like they actually quite like it for some reason.

A lot of people seem to be asking where their legs are, to which the answer is, of course, "leg holes". Occam's Razor and all that. Here it is in action.

There were, of course, several hilarious memes that resulted from the device going viral.

This one of Frank from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia may be our favorite.