Mom sparks controversy after revealing she fed 6-month-old baby a bloody steak
Topics: Food and Drink, Parenting, TikTok, Social Media
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/Instagram/@katiemayharley
Topics: Food and Drink, Parenting, TikTok, Social Media
A woman has caused a stir on social media after she filmed her newborn baby chowing down on a very bloody steak.
If your darling bundle of joy is around six-months-old, then they need more energy and nutrients than ever before, says Unicef Parenting.
While breastmilk remains a vital source of nutrition, you can begin to introduce solid foods such as porridge and pureed fruits and vegetables into your child’s diet.
One woman, however, sent TikTok into meltdown after she recorded a now-viral video of her six-month-old daughter Eliza eating steak.
Advert
In 2022, Katie Harley claimed she’d been advised by her daughter’s paediatrician to introduce meat into her diet.
Speaking to Fox Digital after her clip blew up on social media, the mom-of-two said: “At our appointment, we went over what foods we’re going to start introducing.
“He wanted us to introduce things like peanut butter because it’s an allergen, he wanted us to do steak because it’s very nutrient-rich and lean and we also introduced her to a bunch of fruits and veggies. There was a whole list.”
She added that her child at the time didn’t have any teeth so ‘basically gummed’ the steak for 30 seconds before becoming ‘disinterested’.
Of course, TikTok users initially weren’t aware that Harley had been advised by a practitioner to introduce meat into her child’s diet.
Instead, they took to the comments section of the quick clip to debate what they’d seen.
After watching the 2022 video, one person commented: “Ok, not [saying] to be vegan, but is not nice to see a innocent baby with meat in hands. [There] are a lot of fruits, vegetables. The meat is not for play.”
“I’m not a mom correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that a choking hazard,” queried another user.
A third said: “Cow blood on baby stuff. Funtime cleanup.”
However, Katie has also received floods of support from various other viewers
One fan who rushed to Harley’s defense wrote: “The ‘blood’ in this steak is actually myoglobin. A protein that comes out of the steak when exposed to heat. The steak is not ‘raw’ lol.”
A second said: “That’s one lucky baby. Her momma knows best!”
“Finally another mom that does this,” remarked someone else. “My baby was underweight at 4 months old and refused baby food and her doctor told me to try regular food.”
According to Dr. Jessica Madden, a medical director at Aeroflow Breastpumps, babies can begin eating meat at the same time they are allowed solid food.
“If meats are introduced around this age, they should be of a very soft consistency, i.e. turkey meatballs, long strips of soft-baked chicken or braised shredded beef,” she told the news outlet.
However, she warned that while the steak served to Eliza ‘appeared to be appropriate’, ‘tough’ meats can become a choking hazard if a baby has teeth that can bite off subsequent chunks.
UNILAD has contacted Katie for further comment on the matter.