An image appearing to show a baby smoking has sparked outrage on social media with people calling for child services to intervene.
The picture which was posted to Instagram, shows the infant inhaling from a lit cigarette being held by an adult.
It has has since gone viral on Reddit, amassing 13,100 “votes” in as little as eight hours.
The caption for the post read ‘trying brittnies cig hahaha’ and justified the ‘joke photo’ by saying the child ‘barely inhaled.’
‘For everyone getting offended she only had one puff.’
While some online users are calling this picture out as a “joke” or fake, many Reddit-ers (understandably) don’t see this picture’s funny side.
“For any teeth that haven’t came in yet, those gums will just erode away, allowing for an easy break. No need for that pesky teething!” one worried user wrote.
“The fact that she thinks the child’s lungs would be affected without actually inhaling anything is such a high level of stupidity,” another agreed, adding: “I would want to explain it to her, but at that point she’s just too far gone.”
“Literally EVERY person I know who smokes or who has ever smoked says that they really struggled with the addiction, see no benefit to it whatsoever, and wishes they had never started,” wrote another user.
“The fact that anyone would encourage their child to start and view it as something to be proud of just blows my mind, but especially with a one year old. Your kid pretending to do grown up things like drive or go to work or cook dinner is cute. Your kid with a cigarette in their mouth isn’t funny at all.”
