About

Thinking Baby refers to a black-and-white photo of a baby with her hand on her chin, looking to her left as if contemplating something. It became a reaction image and the subject of image macro memes in 2025, notably spreading on Twitter / X. Thinking Baby memes usually include a question in the caption, which is the question that the baby (and the meme creator) is weighing in their mind. The image is similar to the Philosoraptor Advice Animal and the Cat Thinking meme, which shows a cat in the same position at the same angle and also trended in early 2025. The original Thinking Baby photo was titled Thoughtful Baby, and it was uploaded to Flickr by the baby girl's father in 2006.

Origin

On April 27th, 2006, Flickr^[1] user Mark 2000 uploaded a photo of his newborn baby, Audrey, titling it, "Thoughtful Baby." It showed her in greyscale, looking to the left with her hand on her chin, seemingly contemplating something. Mark 2000 said she was listening to the band Nirvana in the description. Over 19 years, the image reached over 3,200 views and eight favorites (shown below).

The first discovered meme with the image was shared to the Brazilian website Mundo Insano^[2] by user marcelo on June 16th, 2012, who added top and bottom Impact captions reading, "Então se eu chorar, eu ganho um par de seios? Interessante…" which roughly translates into English, "So if I cry, I get a pair of breasts? Interesting…" (shown below).

Spread

On March 8th, 2013, Memedroid^[3] user brunoaugusto248 reposted the abovementioned meme, gaining over 250 votes in 18 years.

The meme template gained minor spread on X^[4] in mid-2024.

The template became widely used in 2025. For instance, on March 10th, 2025, Instagram^[5] user @dropaxaninmyyfaygo shared an iteration with a top caption reading, "Niggas when dey [they] plotting on dey homie," gaining over 8,700 likes in two months (shown below).

The abovementioned meme was reposted by others on Instagram^[6] in the following days.

The meme format continued to trend in Brazilian meme circles as well. For instance, on March 18th, X^[9] user @vauzinhanha tweeted, "Na empresa nova tentando identificar quem é do bem e quem é do mal," roughly translating to, "In the new company trying to identify who is good and who is evil," gaining over 159,000 likes in two months (shown below).

On April 27th, Instagram^[7] user @hoodville shared an iteration, captioned, "Damn… my parents really 16," gaining over 256,200 likes in 10 days (shown below).

Also on April 27th, 2025, X^[8] user @ovrkast used the Thinking Baby meme to joke about the 100 Men vs. 1 Gorilla debate, captioning it, "What if 1 out of 100 niggas grabbed the gorilla's balls," receiving over 249,000 likes in 10 days (shown below).

Various Examples

Template

Related Memes

Cat Thinking

Cat Thinking, also known as Pondering Cat, refers to a series of image macro and caption memes pairing a photoshopped side-profile image of a cat doing a pondering gesture with its paw edited, similar to the Philosoraptor meme format. The photo of the cat was first posted online in mid-January 2025 on TikTok and Instagram Reels in February 2025, often adding humorous texts as if the pet is having philosophical thoughts about average situations.

Search Interest

External References