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Medium reported severity Involving minors Media Coverage

Nanning paper reports parents fed their one-month-old 60 ml per feed for a week on Doubao's advice and the baby gained no weight; Doubao calls it untrue

Nanguo Zaobao, a Nanning daily, reported on 27 May 2026 that first-time parents in Nanning, Guangxi, had fed their one-month-old baby strictly 60 ml of milk per feed for about a week because, by their account, the chatbot Doubao had advised that amount. The baby cried constantly and slept only when exhausted. At a jaundice recheck in late May the hospital's neonatology director said a full-term one-month-old normally takes 80 to 100 ml per feed and that the baby had not gained even half a kilogram. On 28 May Doubao called the report untrue, saying its own repeated tests did not produce that advice. The conversation itself has not been published.

AI system
Doubao (reported)
ByteDance
Occurred
May 2026
Reported
27 May 2026
Event location
China
What the AI did
Informed a human decision about the person
Reported harm
Medical Deterioration
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Health · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement disputed · Causal attribution disputed · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts
3 claims: 1 disputed, 2 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Doubao (豆包), ByteDance's consumer chatbot app, as named in the parents' account relayed by Nanguo Zaobao; Doubao disputes that it gave the advice

What Happened

The report. Nanguo Zaobao's story, carried by Red Star News on Sina News and Tencent News on 27 May 2026, says a Nanning couple, whose baby had earlier been hospitalised for jaundice, looked for information online when the one-month-old kept crying. Following Doubao's suggestion, according to the report, they limited each feed to 60 ml and kept to that figure even when older relatives urged them to feed more. The crying grew worse.

The recheck. In late May the couple took the baby to a Nanning hospital for a jaundice recheck. The head of neonatology was surprised by the 60 ml figure and said a full-term baby of that age normally takes 80 to 100 ml per feed. When questioned, the parents said they had followed Doubao's figure for a week, during which the baby cried until it fell asleep from exhaustion. The doctor said that because the feeds did not meet the baby's growth needs, it had not gained even one jin (500 g). He warned that AI tools cannot tell full-term from premature babies or account for weight and give generic advice.

The dispute. On 28 May Doubao issued a statement, reported by 21jingji, calling the story untrue. It said multiple rounds of testing showed that Doubao would not normally advise only 60 ml per feed for a one-month-old, that its replies give a total daily amount, tell parents to watch the baby's reactions and advise feeding more or seeing a doctor if the baby cries, and that other mainstream models gave similar advice.

Limits. The parents are identified only by a pseudonym. The exchange with the chatbot, including what the parents told it about the baby, has not been published, and Doubao's tests are not tests of this conversation. Whether and how the baby's weight recovered is not reported.

Reported harm

Nanguo Zaobao reports that a one-month-old was fed below its needs for about a week, cried constantly and gained no weight, according to the treating neonatologist; the parents attribute the 60 ml figure to Doubao, which disputes it.

Outcome

Resolved

The neonatologist corrected the feeding amount at the late-May recheck (Nanguo Zaobao). On 28 May 2026 Doubao published a statement calling the report untrue (21jingji). No regulator or consumer-agency action and no later report on the baby were found.

What remains unknown

  • What the parents asked Doubao and what it answered, including whether they gave the baby's age or weight; the exchange is not published.
  • Whether Doubao examined the family's conversation; its statement describes general tests.
  • How the baby's weight and health developed after the feeding was corrected.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: disputed. Nanguo Zaobao's report, as carried by Red Star News, says the parents fed their baby 60 ml per feed 'according to Doubao's suggestion' and told the neonatologist they had followed 'Doubao's requirement' for a week; the doctor links the baby's lack of weight gain to that feeding amount. The described contribution is the chatbot's feeding figure given to the parents, which they used to decide how much to feed the baby (informed_decision_about the baby; the parents, who exchanged messages with the chatbot, are not recorded as harmed). Doubao disputes it: its 28 May statement says its repeated tests would not normally produce that advice. The conversation is unpublished, so the AI's output rests on the parents' account.

3 claims: 1 disputed, 2 reported. What the statuses mean

Disputed According to Nanguo Zaobao's report, first-time parents in Nanning followed Doubao's suggestion and fed their one-month-old strictly 60 ml per feed for about a week, keeping to that figure although older relatives urged more.

Causal attribution. The AI's advice rests on the parents' account relayed by the newspaper; Doubao disputes that it gave this advice, on the basis of its own tests rather than the conversation.

  • news.sina.com.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '近日，广西南宁一对夫妇按照豆包的要求，严格按每次60ml的奶量喂养满月的宝宝'; '他们已经严格按照豆包要求喂养孩子一周'; '家里老人劝说多喂些奶，夫妻俩仍坚持按照豆包给出的标准执行。'
  • news.qq.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '近日，广西南宁一对夫妇按照豆包的要求，严格按每次60ml的奶量喂养满月的宝宝'; '他们已经严格按照豆包要求喂养孩子一周'
  • 21jingji.com(opens in new tab) contradicts · Chinese
    '我们对豆包进行了多轮测试，正常情况下，不会给出“满月婴儿每顿只喂60ml”的建议'
Reported At a jaundice recheck in late May 2026, the neonatology director said a full-term one-month-old normally takes 80 to 100 ml per feed, that 60 ml fell far short of growth needs, and that the baby, which had cried constantly that week, had not gained even one jin (500 g).

Causal attribution. The treating doctor attributes the lack of weight gain to the insufficient feeding amount; he does not assess the chatbot's output himself, which he learned of from the parents.

  • news.sina.com.cn(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '5月下旬，夫妻俩带宝宝到'; '复查黄疸，新生儿科主任'; '足月满月宝宝正常单次奶量可达80至100毫升，60毫升远达不到生长需求。'; '这一周以来，孩子哭闹不止，直到累了才睡过去。“由于喂养量达不到孩子生长需求，宝宝的体重也一斤没长。”曾贵祥说。'
  • news.qq.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '足月满月宝宝正常单次奶量可达80至100毫升，60毫升远达不到生长需求。'; '“由于喂养量达不到孩子生长需求，宝宝的体重也一斤没长。”曾贵祥说。'
Reported On 28 May 2026 Doubao issued a statement calling the report untrue, saying that in multiple rounds of testing it would not normally advise 60 ml per feed for a one-month-old, that its replies give a total daily amount and advise feeding more or seeing a doctor if the baby cries, and that other mainstream models gave similar advice.

Causal attribution. This is the operator's account of its own tests; it does not report examining the family's conversation.

  • 21jingji.com(opens in new tab) supports · Chinese
    '5月28日，豆包发布了关于“家长听豆包给婴儿每顿只喂60ml奶”相关不实报道的情况说明'; '豆包会在回复中给出每日总奶量，提示家长关注婴儿后续反应，并建议出现哭闹等情况时增加喂养或及时咨询医生。除豆包外，其他主流大模型也给出了类似的建议。'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26; no human reviewer inspected the text. Sina News page of 27 May 2026 carrying a Red Star News article whose closing line credits Nanguo Zaobao ('来源：南国早报'). Applies to s1.

Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26; no human reviewer inspected the text. Tencent News page of the same Red Star News article, 27 May 2026; identical text, also credited to Nanguo Zaobao, so it shares the group of s1. Applies to s2.

Read in Chinese and translated by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-26; no human reviewer inspected the text. 21jingji report of 28 May 2026 summarising Doubao's statement on the report; Doubao's statement is an origin separate from the newspaper's account. Applies to s3.

Event countries: China. Affected-person countries: China. Court countries: Unknown.

The report places the family, the feeding and the hospital recheck in Nanning, Guangxi. No court is involved.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-26: Published as a contextual health-advice case (informed_decision_about the baby): Nanguo Zaobao reports the parents' account that they fed a one-month-old 60 ml per feed for a week on Doubao's suggestion, and the treating neonatologist describes the shortfall and the lack of weight gain. Doubao's denial is recorded and the AI involvement is marked disputed.

People described

A one-month-old baby in Nanning whose first-time parents are identified only by a pseudonym; the baby's sex and name are not reported.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One baby: the report describes a single one-month-old who was fed 60 ml per feed for about a week and gained no weight. The parents are the chatbot users; no harm to them is described, so participant users affected is 0 and other people harmed is 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#doubao#infant-feeding#health-advice#guangxi#disputed

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Nanning paper reports parents fed their one-month-old 60 ml per feed for a week on Doubao's advice and the baby gained no weight; Doubao calls it untrue. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-nanning-parents-fed-one-month-old-60ml-per-feed-on-doubao-advice-no-weight-gain

BibTeX

@misc{2026_nanning_parents_fed_one_month_old_60ml_per_feed_on_doubao_advice_no_weight_gain,
  title = {Nanning paper reports parents fed their one-month-old 60 ml per feed for a week on Doubao's advice and the baby gained no weight; Doubao calls it untrue},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-nanning-parents-fed-one-month-old-60ml-per-feed-on-doubao-advice-no-weight-gain}
}

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