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?

Actually, not only did DS breast feed a small plastic giraffe, DD has a bottle for her doll that contains the most hideous coloured orange squash type substance ever. Poor Baby Bella, she'll have tooth decay and have to have her teeth removed, you mark my words!

seriously, I'm a breast feeding type (or was) and have often thought about the crap we give kids to feed thier dollies with. never done anythig about it though, we just talk about breast feeding and how its best, same as my mum did.

DD not DH!

None of my last 6 babies had a bottle at all. We didn't need them. Once they were taking anything other than milk they used a cup.

Puzzlerocks - no pocket money left after wretched Jungle In My Pocket!

I took the bottle away from my dd's doll set

She found it later and was very perplexed - could not understand how it worked or why milk would be in a bottle.

My dc's never used a bottle, even when older. Gawd knows I tried to get them to have expressed milk, but they wouldn't.

YANBU

YANBU
I would do the same.
I have to disagree with those who say bf babies use bottles for water. They get all the water they need from BM. My DS used a bottle a few times and then went straight onto a sportsbottle style cup (the same as his elder sister had.)
Bottle feeding is not normal to my children so I would not give them a doll and a bottle. They pretend to BF their dolls because that is normal to them.
They have had access to a doll with a bottle and they both ignored the bottle.
I don't care if it makes me smug / a bitch etc , I would still remove the bottle

YANBU

I'm currently indoctrinating my children with 'babies get milk from their mummies'. If they have DCs who don't get human milk then so be it but at least that will be the norm for them (in theory)

And Ds1 had about 3 bottles of EBM but the other 2 have never had a bottle for water or EBM
It really bugs me that it's regarded as an essential part of having a baby to have bottles in the house.

YABU. You are taking it too seriously.

yabvu

So it is fine to normalise the understanding that:

Men can't feed babies with EBM or formula
Grannies/grandads can't feed babies with EBM or formula
Women can't return to work until their children are old enough to be down to few enough feeds to enable it, as their children would have to be fed EMB from a bottle
Mummies are the only ones who can properly nuture a child from a feeding perspective, thus mummy is automatically the person in the caring role to the exlusion of all others until such time as the baby has cut back a lot on feeds

None of this is sounding great to me. Triple right back at everyone. To say it is normal for a baby never to need a bottle exludes a vast array of options for even exclusively BF women. Let alone ones who FF for whatever reason.

To stigmatise the choices/needs of other parents, even if they are exclusively BF, on the basis that their baby may occasionally have a bottle is not a pleasant thing to read.

This seems to have gone past BF/FF and the usual argument and taken on a new dimension. That you are only a "proper" BFer if your baby never ever under any circumstances whatsoever has a bottle. How's that going to encourage anyone to give it a try?

I agree with you there, LTOS. My older children had bottles of formula from 3m,5m and 3m due to me going back to work.

Thanks, LTOS - that's what I was trying to get at (not very well, obviously)

I think breastfeeding comes so easily & naturally to some women that they literally don't believe it isn't the same for everybody. (I wonder if the anti-bottle brigade (what used to be referred to on MN as breastfeeding n*zis) feel similarly about drug-free childbirth vs caesarians?)

Yes, b/f used to be the only way & hey, the human race is still here, but I wonder how many babies died in the good old days because their mother couldn't feed them & didn't have access to a wet nurse? Maybe the human race would be better off without these failures?

Get over yourselves.

LTOS I think you're missing the point that bf babies do not NEED a bottle - they may have one for whatever reason but they are by no means essential and men/grandparents whoever don't NEED to be involved in feeding either. Mums are perfectly capable of doing it themselves although they may choose to have someone help out occasionally. Basically bottles are not a necessity and shouldn't be promoted as such.

LTOS, I agree those things should not be normalised, but in getting rid of toy bottles they are not being, whereas in keeping toy bottles the idea of bottlefeeding as the norm IS suggested.

FFS why are some pro bottle lot being so defensive! Nazis, as if the * makes it ok, ffs!

SOME MOTHERS CAN'T BREASTFEED - why would they not be defensive? What do you suggest they do instead if using a bottle is such a crime?

And what about adoptive mothers? And adoptive fathers? What are they supposed to do? Honestly you lot are incredibly intolerant.

That is not what people are saying though! Just that it should not be the norm but an alternative to it. It is NOT an intolerence, but why should it become normalised to suit the people who are not bfing, AND those that make money out of the fact that they are not (the bit that really gets me!).

Adoptive mothers can bf btw, (La Leche have info on this, and in many societies men put babies to there breast as a means to comfort regardless of milk production.

Why? Why is including a bottle with a doll equated to meaning it is a necessity?

When my baby comes in a few weeks I think granny is buying a doll for DD which will no doubt come replete with bottle.

I have already warned told DD that babies have mummy milk which comes from boob and she will see me BF.

We may see about giving the baby a bottle of EBM sometimes, or even (yikes) formula, we may not, we'll see how it goes.

No harm in DD knowing that babies can be fed with breast or bottle or a combination of the two.

Personally I think it is wonderful that women now do have choices, that they can go back to work if they want/need to, that partners and others can help with feeding etc. I flatly refuse to say that this freedom of choice is in any way a bad thing. And removing the bottle from the kit symbolises removing that choice.

Why do you not just educate your children that babies can be fed either by bottle or breast?

Why do you feel that feeding has to mutually exclusive? Neither way of feeding is 'right' or 'wrong', so why not teach this? even from a young age children are able to understand choice.

YABU to bring your child up to believe there is something wrong with bottle feeding, what happens if she unable to feed naturally or is unable to have children and has no choice but to use the bottle? Your teachings may lead her to feel inadequate.

I also think it sad that people have to be either "pro bottle" or "pro BF". What about "pro informed choice with support?"

FWIW no-one on here knows how anyone else feeds their children, and the assumption that those who say there is no harm in having a bottle in the doll kit are "pro bottle" as if they are fully paid up members of the formula advertising board is a big assumption to make.

OMG this is MN at it's best. Classic thread. Sorry OP but you are being very precious but have amused me (and god knows I need it at the moment)

unless they have offered the info on how they fed their children, obviously