To remove the toy baby feeding bottle from my dd's new doll bath and feeding set?

[Springfleurs]

I was brought up to think that breast feeding was a strange and rather disgusting thing to do.

Luckily managed to overcome this myself and b/f both dc for 5 months and 14 months respectively.

Took dd to a toy shop today and she chose a doll bath and feeding set. Unpacked it for her when we got in and there is a feeding bottle in there. I know it might seem a bit precious but it irritated me slightly, as though it was a mandatory piece of equipment for all babies/dolls.

Or

I am taking it all rather too seriously?

I didn't say there was a conspiracy scottishmummy.
There's certainly a business plan.

To op, you're taking it too seriously. It's fun pretending to feed a baby doll with a bottle. It's also more fun to pretend-feed a doll with a spoon rather than putting bread sticks in front of it.

have to take issue with your appraisal of clinicians skills

yes,some are dire.most are not

just as on the other side the no analgesia natural birth movement has some quacks too. espousing belief that natural birth is achievable for all if only slash happy surgeons would back off

can you see arguing in stereotypes isn't very productive.or accurate

You said you found it hard to believe that i didn't connect bottles with formula. I didn't and still don't. I believe that many people are the same as me on that.

And this thread is specifically about a bottle for a doll. Not about the multitude of influences around a person, that's a different thread. If I wanted to improve BF rates then I wouldn't be starting with banning toy bottles.

And bottles can and do contain EBM. For lots and lots of babies.

To claim that bottle automatically = formula is actually supporting what many claim the formula companies would like people to think. To keep the bottle as a useful tool for many in feeding their child, whether BF or FF, rather than saying they must be hidden away, would be more useful surely. There is an issue I think of letting people know that BF can be flexible, and a bottle is for many part of that flexibility.

I had some crap care from HV, midwife, GP up to SHO wanting to check my supply with a pump. It took me getting arsey for the Registrar to have a look at us and tell me we were fine. Even his knowledge wasn't totally spot-on.
I am sure many HCPs have good breastfeeding knowledge, but it only takes a quick scan of threads on the breast/bottle-feeding board to realise how much poor care there is in this country.

but you already stated you have issues with medical profession etc.so not quite impartial

my hv was dire.doesn't mean they all are

but yes good rapport good advice is crucial

LTOS, it's very difficult to hold a discussion when someone is putting words in my mouth.

I said I found it hard to believe that you can't see why most people connect bottles with formula.

I don't claim that bottle = formula, I suggest that bottles symbolise formula in our culture.

It would be great if bottles could just be seen as another tool to be used when necessary, but they are usually the alternative to breast-feeding not an addition and I think normalising breast-feeding needs the emphasis.

How could it save tens of million s of pounds?

It's more that I know to take everything they say about breastfeeding under advisement and check it out myself. I am very lucky I am able to do this.

link for Hoochie

as i said i had a toy hoover didnt turn me into princess anthea

The image of the feeding bottle is used everywhere: to symbolise a baby change area; on new arrival cards; baby clothing; in toys. I absolutely agree that these images do affect our cultural consciousness and bottle feeding becomes the norm whereas breastfeeding is seen as something unusual, hidden away. No one is saying that bottle feeding is not an acceptable choice - of course it is. But that choice should be a fully informed one.

Some mothers will go on to breastfeed despite these influences, of course, often because there are other, stronger influences such as family and peers. What about women who, like me, never encountered breastfeeding at all? No one in my family breastfed, everyone assumed I would bottle feed because that is just what you do. Like the OP, I did breastfeed, despite these negative influences, but only for 4 months because I honestly had no experience of people breastfeeding for longer. Breastfeeding was alien to me. I became more knowledgeable and confident with dd2 and am still bf her now at 19 months.

My point is that whilst we may think that the decisions we make are entirely down to our own free will, we are influenced subconsciously by many complicating factors, including the widespread use of the bottle to symbolise a baby.

As I said, it all adds up.

SM, does your body come with an inbuilt cleaner? Does playing with a toy vacuum stop you doing what is natural to you?

Those baby doll bathing sets are shit anyway, OP. Never mind formula feeding, you are exposing your DD to the forces of cynical marketing.

Use the real bath and a flannel.

Then the angst of whether to throw away the accompanying plastic bottle won't be an issue

what a profound question Am i self cleaning.now i am vexed

i dont think my toy vacuum cleaner has eroded function or subliminally caused me to hoover habitually

I had a toy hoover SM. Actually I think I over hoovered when I was little and am now compensating by having a cleaner

ah subliminal stereotyping and resultant adult behaviour

yikes!the hoover as an object of mass control

x-posted there, ladyofshallots said it much more eloquently!