Shocking videos have emerged on social media of a young Australian mother giving a vape to her baby to inhale, as she watches on laughing.
In one video, the woman presses a vape against her 10-month-old boy's lips, before asking "want to try?"
The boy then inhales, squirming uncomfortably as he coughs and splutters, while the woman continues giggling.
Social media users were outraged.
"As a mother myself, I don't know how people can do this to their babies," one Facebook user said.
"Every baby deserves a parent but not every parent deserves a baby," another commented.
But the woman later doubled down on her parenting style.
"Every c**t got the hide to sit there and talk about me and my child take a look in yas [sic] own backyard," she wrote on Facebook in response to the backlash.
New South Wales Police said officers attended a home in Kempsey, about 5 hours drive north of Sydney, to check on the boy's welfare.
The boy was taken to the hospital for a health assessment, Daily Mail Australia reported.
Vape poisonings in children under 4 years old nearly doubled in Australia over the past year.
The NSW Poisons Centre received 213 calls in 2022 relating to exposure to e-cigarettes or e-liquids.
NSW poisons specialist Genevieve Adamo said many calls were due to young children putting vapes to their mouths out of curiosity, "as children do."
Vape juice normally contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and flavourings, which are all food-grade ingredients.
However, the strength of nicotine found in vape juices can be toxic for young tamariki.
The NSW government has said young people who vape are three times more likely to start smoking cigarettes versus non-vapers.
