‘Fully Conscious' Baby Goes Viral but Is Her Reaction Unusual?

The ‘fully conscious’ baby has raised questions about how much infants may truly understand.

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A baby became an overnight sensation not only because of her posh taste in luxury hotels but also because of her opinionated answer to a question posed by her mom. A video of the reaction has gone mega-viral on TikTok.

“I have a question for everybody,” TikTok viewers hear mom Bailey Wise of Tampa, Florida, ask her two daughters and her husband William, who is holding their youngest, Kate. “Who wants to go to the Four Seasons Orlando?”

Baby Kate, who Wise tells CNN is just a year old, emphatically raises her finger, yelling “Me!” with the same gusto and apparent understanding of the question as her 4-year-old sister Madelyn.

Wise told CNN that she sent the video to her parents and her sister Stefanie, who then posted it to her TikTok. They didn’t expect the video to explode, which currently sits at over 46 million views, and has garnered over 46,000 comments.

The video not only resonates with viewers because of how adorable Kate is in her little diaper raising her pointer finger right on cue, but also how much it seems she can comprehend and her precise answer to such a mature question.

“That baby looks like she pays taxes!” wrote one TikTok user in the comments. “Is this a real baby?” another asked incredulously.

“I was not expecting that baby to comprehend or respond,” admitted another, while one joked, “That’s a professional human.”

My favorite comment by a TikTok viewer: “I think the baby is in charge of the family finances.”

Dubbed the “Fully Conscious Baby” by viewers, the video raises the question of how much babies Kate’s age can truly understand. The video has also sparked others to talk about their experiences with “fully conscious” babies.

“I’m so happy that people are finally realizing that babies are conscious beings,” TikTok user Mark Roberts says in a video. He described a time when he babysat a 1-year-old who supposedly only knew three words: “Mom,” “Dad,” and “Love.” However, when they were alone, Roberts says the baby stared at him and said, “I speak more.”

“That’s four new words and basic sentence structure!” he hilariously exclaims. “I feel like that baby was just trying to avoid paying taxes or something.”

What To Know about Baby Milestones

While it’s fun to picture Kate as the next “Boss Baby” running circles around her parents, according to Anna Malia Beckwith, MD, and AVP of Ambulatory Medical Practices and Section Chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Children’s Specialized Hospital, Kate’s display of comprehension is not uncommon for her age.

“In the video, the child is demonstrating a combination of milestones—cognitive, receptive language, expressive language, and social,” Dr. Beckwith explains. “Cognition is also a developing process throughout infancy, childhood, adolescence, and even into young adulthood.”

Bailey told CNN that she and her husband have shown their daughter pictures of the Four Seasons Hotel before “so she certainly knows when we are excited about something.” Bailey also told People that baby Kate first started communicating by pointing her finger and that she can already say a handful of harder words like, “blueberries,” “bananas,” and “olives.”

According to Dr. Beckwith, Kate’s reaction to the question in the video makes perfect sense, saying by the time a child reaches 11 to 14 months old, many will recognize familiar names or words. “She is socially aware of her family and siblings reactions to these words as well, joining the group in raising her hand,” Dr. Beckwith says.

As Ivan Pavkovic, MD, a pediatric neurologist at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Northwell Health, also points out, “It is very improbable that the baby in the video fully understood the content of the parent’s speech but likely was responding to the tone of the voice and perhaps nonverbal cues.”

Keep in mind, infants are working on various skill areas, including gross motor, fine motor, language, cognition, social, and emotional development. "Sometimes we see a burst of progress in one domain, but less in another," says Dr. Beckwith.

Developmental pediatricians follow established guidelines to track children's developmental growth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also offers parents a free Milestone Tracker App so they can monitor their child’s growth at home.

By around 12 months, for example, the CDC guidelines say an infant cognitive progress typically includes putting something in a container, like a block in a cup, and looking for things they see you hide, such as a toy under a blanket. Socially they may play games with you, and may be able to communicate with waves, calling parents special names, and understanding the word “no.” They might also start walking while holding on to furniture and pick up things between their thumb and pointer.

Dr. Pavkovic cautions that children can develop more slowly or more rapidly than what the CDC guide provides. A neurological evaluation is recommended if development is far behind their peers. “Pediatricians will identify the developmental delay and refer the child to pediatric neurology,” he says.

How To Encourage Baby Milestones

Parents can help their children progress by speaking and reading aloud to their babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says reading aloud with children enhances parent-child interactions and encourages social and emotional development. It also helps prepare children to learn language and acquire early literacy skills.

“The key is stimulation through a multi-sensory experience,” explains Dr. Beckwith. “Language exposure, but also exposure to play, tactile manipulatives, and problem-solving opportunities.”

She cautions that videos and television shows are not a replacement for in-person language visualization (sorry Ms. Rachel and Blippi), and that parents don’t have to put on a different voice for their child to understand better or to learn faster.

“These melodies may be preferable to the infant, capturing their attention,” she says. “However, the most important factor is the language exposure, even if the parent doesn’t use a 'silly voice.'”

The use of age-appropriate toys is also key to an enriched environment to provide multi-sensory stimulation and doesn’t need to be fancy, according to experts. This type of play, says Dr. Beckwith, “is the basis for the development of self-care skills needed for independence.”

Additionally, Dr. Pavkovic suggests using music to stimulate auditory development. “Many have opinions regarding the optimal type of music but it is truly unknown which is best,” he explains.

As for baby Kate, her ability to listen and engage has made her a tiny new ambassador for the Four Seasons Orlando, according to the hotel’s TikTok account. I can’t think of a more adorably convincing reason to take a vacation. 

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