A first-time mother is furious at a family member who fed her 4-month-old cake without permission.
"Someone fed my 4-month-old baby chocolate cake and I just need to rant about it," London mom Katie Jones shared in a recent TikTok video. "A couple of weeks ago, we were at someone's house and I was in the kitchen and my husband was in the living room and somebody was holding our baby and decided to feed her chocolate cake."
Jones said her husband shouted "NO!'" and tried pulling the food from their infant mouth.
"I grabbed my baby, stormed out of the house and haven't spoken to this person since but I have been told that it's not a big deal and that I overreacted," Jones said in the video.
The infant, whose name is Aria, is exclusively breastfeeding and, until then, hadn't consumed solid food, save for a small taste of watermelon.
"The reason I'm so mad about it is because I felt like a precious moment had been taken away from us, just for the expense of someone's laughter," she said. "On top of that, chocolate cake has sugar, dairy, caffeine, all these things that I want to control with my baby.
"That is my boundaries, what I set and nobody should overstep that," she added. "If somebody wants to feed my baby ... you need to ask me. Let me know how you would feel in this situation."
Most of Jones' followers were just as upset, writing, "You're her MOTHER!!! Don't let anyone tell you (that you're) overreacting!!" and "Weaning or not, who feeds a 4 month old chocolate cake without asking the parents?"
Others typed, "I would be fuming" and "I wouldn't even feed someone's dog without asking."
Some thought Jones overreacted and that she assumed the worst in that scenario: "Your reaction was definitely over the top" and "That person probably didn't mean any harm. Just make it a learning lesson and say, 'Please don't feed my baby without permission."
Jones tells TODAY.com that she heard family members laughing before her husband panicked.
"Rather than get heated and have an argument, I left as I didn’t want to cause a scene," she says. That person, she adds, was “extremely disrespectful" and has not apologized.
The couple had planned to record their daughter experimenting with homemade vegetable purées around her 6-month birthday.
"This is my first child so it’s really important to me and my husband that we spend these first moments together," she says, adding, "Until you have your own children, you don’t understand how protective you might be."
"I felt like a precious moment had been taken away from us, just for the expense of someone’s laughter."
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, babies can be ready for solid food once they weigh at least 13 pounds and double their birth weight. Infants should also have head control and show an interest in food. While this typically happens around 4 months of age, the AAP encourages babies to be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and supports nursing even after solid foods are introduced.
Starting solid foods at 4 months old is younger than the general recommended age of 6 months, says Dr. Steven Abrams, a pediatrics professor at The University of Texas at Austin and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Breast milk or formula really provides all the nutrition that babies need," he tells TODAY.com.
"First solid foods wouldn't be high in sugar," he says. "While a piece of chocolate cake itself isn’t likely to cause much harm, there are choking hazards and allergies (to consider)." Abrams adds that 4-month-old babies have not yet received certain vaccinations which could make them vulnerable to illness if there are no limitations on exposure to other people.
"We typically recommend that babies start (solids) right around 6 months, sometimes a little bit sooner, with eggs and peanut sources — not peanuts themselves, as they are choking hazards — to help prevent allergies," says Abrams. He adds that some families feed infants small amounts of fruits and vegetables.
People should be respectful toward babies who are not their own, especially amid cultural traditions or specific family rules, he says. "Pediatricians can guide families around these issues."