The Breastfeeding Doll: Sexualizing Little Girls Or Teaching Them A Lesson? TheGloss

Maybe three-year-olds should learn how to breastfeed? Maybe?

Hey guys! The holiday season is just around the corner! What does that mean? Presents! Presents for you! Presents for me! Presents for all!

But buying presents can be so stressful sometimes. You never know what to get and when you do finally settle on a purchase, there’s always the fear of it not being good enough. What a drag.

Well, thanks to “The Breast Milk Baby,” you can at least know you’ve made the right choice for all the wee ones in your life. Whether it’s your daughter, your niece, the kid next door and or a 40-year-old cousin who has a penchant for bizzarre toys, you definitely have your gift-giving covered with this doll.

Bill O’Reilly may think it’s sexualizing little girls, bringing unnecessary realities to their life and denying kids the right to be kids, but the Spain-based doll maker, Berjuan Toys, and breastfeeding advocates don’t agree. Sally Wendkos Olds, the author of The Complete Book of Breastfeeding thinks Americans are just “prudish” when it comes to the topic of breastfeeding, saying:

“I think it’s just crazy what Bill O’Reilly was saying that it’s sexualizing little girls. The whole point is that so many people in our society persist in sexualizing breastfeeding, where in so many other countries around the world they don’t think anything of it.”

And she’s right. The doll has been a huge success in Europe, but has only sold 5,000 here in the States in the last year. You know, because breastfeeding is barbaric and should only be done behind closed doors! And since this is obviously the case, why would we want to subject our kids to it? We don’t want them thinking it’s natural or anything! Do we?!

http://helloalle.com/ Alle

Can we talk about dolls? I had exactly one doll as a kid, and I pretend-breastfed that thing all the time. My mum was really open about breastfeeding being natural & I saw her feed my brother that way all the time, so it just seemed like “What the hell else would I do?”

But the best part is the doll itself. It was porcelain, handmade by my grandmother, and–get ready for this to be horrifying–was specifically made to look exactly like me. Apparently my mother sent her a lock of my blonde hair so that she could get the wig exactly right, and she even made it small versions of some of my favourite “dressy” clothes. I didn’t name the doll or even like it, but I took care of it because I honestly believed that all toys were alive. I was also vaguely afraid that this one would hurt me if I didn’t “feed” it and change its clothes weekly.

I have eight other female cousins. We all have a doll that looks like us. They are all weird.
- Amanda Chatel
  
  THIS. It’s amazing! I also had a creepy doll — “Crazy Mary” — that I totally believed was alive so I went out of my way to treat her extra special. However, she didn’t look like me… but yes, I apparently pretend-nursed her constantly.
  
  I love that you pretend-breastfed a doll that looked exactly like you… now that’s some priceless awesomeness.
- http://helloalle.com/ Alle
  
  How much do I love that you named a doll “Crazy Mary”?
- Breezy
  
  My mom has a mini-her doll!! Except it was made with ALL HER OWN HAIR. She still does not think it is creepy, apparently that kind of thing was super hip back in the day.
Jaclyn Flores

I mean, there are plenty- PLENTY- of dolls that make a sucking sounds when a kid gives the doll a fake bottle. I don’t really see the difference in that case. If a mom does something, toddlers want to do it too. They mimic absolutely everything and if breastfeeding is what they see, it would naturally be what they want to mimic. It’s just that a lot of kids in this country don’t see breastfeeding.
Pre-breastfeeding, I was definitely middle-of-the-road and didn’t understand why people were so crazy about it. Breastfeeding is good if you can/want to do it, but formula isn’t the poison a lot of breastfeeding advocates make it out to be.
After breastfeeding my daughter for 9 months, I still don’t think formula is poison and I still don’t judge anyone who chooses not to breastfeed, but I do understand the intensity of the issue a lot more. It was frowned upon, in my case. No one ever came right out and said “I wish you didn’t breastfeed your baby”, but my job made it ridiculously difficult for me to continue. I had to fight every day to get the time and privacy I needed for something that is absolutely what tits are made for! I mean, it was simply ridiculous that I was treated like I was given some sort of special privilege, or like they were doing me a favor or something. I think if more little girls were exposed to breastfeeding as the absolutely normal, everyday thing it is, the stigma will start to lessen. You can’t keep a toddler shielded from something and then tell them it’s totally normal and fine. They have to see it or they can’t relate to it.