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 totally agree with nancy, and plenty of other people have said on this thread, that the attitudes shown would be more than enough to put people right off BF.

Probaby need to feed them though, eh gaby

Ohh let me think: obsessed women who want to smash dolly's feeding bottles on the offchance it might have some long lasting effect on their toddler child; insane facts and figures randomly quoted about the terrible things that will happen if you FF; women who want to snatch FF children and force their own boobs upon them....just off the top of my head.

LadyThompson, I brought up that figure in response to you doubting that 'many' babies suffer illness from being formula fed.

This is just such a horrible thread. Really. It's quite shameful, actually. The pathetic one-up-manship. The smuggery. The paranoia. It's embarrassing, frankly.

And I'll tell you something else: this sort of thread does absolutely zero to boost breastfeeding rates, normalise breastfeeding or any of the other aims one might hope to achieve in that area.

And banning 'dolly bottles' and ensuring our daughters 'breastfeed' their Tiny Tears instead is going to be about as successful as giving our children play lettuce leaves rather than play burgers to the in the hope they'll grow up to eat healthily. I mean, FGS.

And one last thing - something that really, really gets my goat about this sort of thread. To whoever said formula feeders / people who had problems with bfing shouldn't read this type of thread if they feel 'sensitive'. How absolutely ridiculous! What can possibly be achieved by a group of women who have breastfed successfully sitting around discussing why more people don't breastfeed??? . We need more discussion and debate grounded in reality and not some fanciful fairy world - and that should include all^ mothers, not just a few extreme voices on either 'side'.

Well said MrsMattie

I've seen a lot of people who are trying to change the minds of those who think the doll's bottle matters. Fair enough - that's what this thread is for, discussing that issue.

Unfortunately in debating the issue of whether or not the bottle matters, the issue of whether or not bfing really matters has naturally come up. How could it not? It's integral to the whole question. If someone thinks that bf doesn't make much difference to babies' health, then obviously they're not going to think the bottle matters. That's what some people here clearly think and that's how the whole issue of the stats about illness and cost came up.

(Other people say they think that bfing matters, but don't believe the bottle is significant - that's a separate area of discussion really as that's to do with theories about how strong cultural influences on decisions are.)

Do some people here feel that the stats have only been brought up to try to persuade ffers to bfeed or to feel bad? But they were brought out in response to posts like this (LadyThompson, further up):

"Many get ill' from being bottlefed in this country, is what you said. Excuse me (and, genuinely, I don't want to sound rude), but I think that is propagandist tosh. And you can all come on in your droves and flame me if you like, I shan't mind."

It's clear from what several people said further back that one reason they think the toy bottle doesn't matter is that they think that there are no health problems from formula feeding in this country, so it's just ridiculous to care about anything that might influence it. That's why things like health stats have come out - nobody on this thread as far as I can see is actually trying to get people to bf who haven't already, or trying to make them feel bad on purpose.

What a load of crap Nancy. Personally think this has become a very informative thread on both sides, which can only be useful.

As for "rabid FF'ers". No, no-one has tried to change anyones mind but they have, shall we say STRENUOUSLY defended their position, which was never really under attack in this thread.

PepperedMackeral has written the best posts on here.

Sorry gabygirl I wasn't meaning that other people don't bond with breastfed babies, just that there is an intensity about feeding a baby (even with a bottle) that is very pleasurable, and other people get to experience that, especially in the early weeks when they feed so much.

Good post mrsmattie.

nancy - like the list so far, but that's not the half of what's been said unfortunately...

Right Nancy, the smash with a hammer was my personal way of expressing how much I detest such artifacts of the normalisation of bottle-feeding. If I thought you were going to take that as what I would literally do, I would have spelled it out more simply for you.
I'm not obsessed with breastfeeding, but it is important to me, yes.

And Leonie, however forthright she may be didn't mention snatching the babies.

But WME, why bring up a ludicrous figure that is just going to undermine your argument and make you look daft? I am not denying bf has benefits. I would be a fool to do so. But the figure to which you allude -which they admit is a guess - is just silly!

Leonie - I have admitted all along that BF is better, of course it is, how can it not be better. But some of the posts on here seem to suggest that FF babies are mistreated in some way and as someone who started BF and then switched to FF I do find that insulting.

I agree that BF should be seen as the default method, but would like to think that new mums do know that they can FF without being made out to be some sort of social pariah, or accused of not caring about their baby which, again, is simply not true.

Didn't know that about the soya milk tho.....

I should probably stay away from this thread but in a strange way I can't help it...like biting too much of a nail off....

Sunfleurs: 'informative?' ha ha ha

but internal object relations and associations dont always alter behaviour.one has volition and may recognise an association but not necessarily adhere toi the suggestion

as op stated she was brougt up thinking BF was dirrty,but was able to over come that association and make her own mind up chosing an opposite course of action

exposure or association with a subject or object does not necesarily equate to unquestioning complaince

I did not say that people who had problems with bfing or formula fed should not read this thread - reread what I said. I said that people who are feeling very sensitive about the issue should avoid it. That's not the same group of people at all. I know several ffers who have no problem discussing this sort of thing.

No WME - but she did say she longed to take ff infants from their mothers and bf them herself. But as LTOS says, best not to engage with her.

Um, I think Nestle's aggressive marketing might have slightly more to do with it than Tiny Tear's bottle, to be fair@Leonie.

The complete change in women's role in society over the last century must surely have affected bf-ing rates, too, no?
I know loads of women who breastfed happily until they went back to work and then couldn't be doing with the faff of expressing, so switched to formula. They weren't ignorant / evil SMA-lovers. They were working women with a range of priorities, is all.

Shades of grey.

Oh, and just to say, I WANTED to breastfeed,but had problems and not enough support. In my particular "mileu" there was not a ff culture, so it was very hard to feel that it was acceptable to ff.

I just also happen to think that it was not the end of the world .....

Good post MrsMattie

Sorry it's off topic, but how would counting people make you a millionaire? And FF does not equal a lack of bonding, lazy parenting or necessarily mean that you only feed your child with a bottle propped up against a blanket. You sound a bit odd, frankly Leonie.