'Breastfeeding doll' on sale in Belgium causes (predictable) outrage

[ExtraFancy]

Link to article on Sun online

Interested in what others think of this. This doll comes with a little vest top with two 'flower' patches on it - when the baby cries, you raise it to the flower and it stops crying.

It is often mentioned on threads in this topic that FF is normalised for most of us from a young age with toy baby bottles etc - now someone has produced an alternative and it is (yawn...) being cited as a possible cause for teenage pregnancy: "they might like it so much that they can't wait to have a real baby to breastfeed"

Opinions?

Apologies if this has already been discussed - just realised article is nearly 2 weeks old!

What an absolutely ludicrous article. Haven't read the comments; my guess would be that they will be much more sensible, and in fact the article may have been written to invoke sensible comments so that they can flog a fullpage ad to Avent.

love it, might have to buy for my dd's
what a load of crap about increasing teenage pregancy rates!!
the sooner we get away from seeing breast as sexual objects the better imo

Why would you need a special doll for pretend breastfeeding? According to my MIL my partner "breastfed" his teddy after his sister was born and I guess he wasn't the only child to ever do this.

I can't see how this normalises breastfeeding tbh. Flower patches? My 2-year old dd just whips her top up to feed dolly.

My sister has one (not this eact model I don't think, but v similar). Think they are great. Good to see a balanced article from the Sun there!

WidowWadman pretty sure it is just a 'unique' marketing gimmick - I too used to BF my teddies (two younger sisters)

at the thought that all these young girls can't wait to have their own baby to breastfeed!

The flower thing is so it makes a noise, like the little dolls with bottles which wet themselves etc.

ahh but the thing is, children who breastfeed their dolls/teddies do it because they see their mum or someone else close doipng it.

there are a lot of children who don't see that, and who see bottlefeeding as an absolute norm.

so this doll is trying to balance that. it is promoting breastfeeding to those people who see bottle feeding as THE default way to nourish a baby and to countreract the gazillions of other baby dolls on the market that come with a bottle/dummy etc

i mean, i have to admit i am not entirely sure what I think of the doll, but i think my gut feel is that anything that helps to normalise and advertise breastfeeding is a GOOD thing.
despite the flower nipples!

Oh, I think it's a really sweet idea. What a stupid offensive article. And I'm shocked by the midwife's response. Surely most young girls who see breastfeeding mothers mimic breastfeeding? My dd1 certainly did.

And the idea that it will cause teenage pregnancies??!!?? I'm intrigued by the assumption that young girls will find pretending to breastfeed so much more thrilling than pretending to bottle feed. I wonder what that's about.

Who is Dr Carol Cooper and why does she think that letting children pretend to breastfeed their dolls has anything to do with promoting sex or periods?

And the reader's comment about the 'blatant sexualisation of our children's innocence'! Sexual????

I'm going to stop now before I start hyperventilating

DD tried to bf the kitten, with predictably sad results.... BFing brings out some very peculiar reactions in people, doesn't it? 'Blatant sexualisation of our children's innocence' -- hello! Bratz?

I think it's great - for various reasons I FF my children and always encourage my DD to pretend to breastfeed her dollies in the hope that it will normalise it for her.

How is it a breastfeeding doll though if the doll is feeding from flowers on a vest? Most odd.

Why is it sexualisation of children, rubbish!! Bf is normal and natural, what about some of the toys they come up with. Sorry i have to say this and hope that i dont offend, i did read some of the comment of the Sun and some of the readers did say that it sexualises children(probably men who just see boobs as sex objects and not for feeding babies)Typical responses from some of those who read this type of paper

Just read an article in the Daily Mail (paper was in the dentists!). What reactionary drivel. The vicious language used by the writer would lead one to believe that this doll represented an attack on the moral fabric of the universe!
Anything that encourages normalisation of breast feeding is a good thing. I have 5 children and remember the discouragement only too well - the eagerness of even professionals to introduce a bottle as soon as there was the littlest problem.
I wish bottle feeding parents would stop attacking breast feeding. I don't presume to question their choice. Why do they see offence in every positive image or ad for breast feeding?
Sometimes I wonder - given their fears about hygiene and sexualisation - if they are not just damaged psychologically.

The daily mail article!!!

I cannot believe that has been published. I agree with the whole 'guilt trip' thing. that is shitty. But suggesting that children should only be able to play with bottles and their dolls, that it is sexualising children. WTAF?!!
DD1 has bf-ed all her toys watching me with dd2, just as she puts them to bed, changes their nappy etc etc.

Good grief.

Rant over.

disgusting. Shouldn't be allowed in public

my boobs are purely for sex

cor, look at the tits on that one

tut tsk tut you'd never see this in my day

it's unnatural

I don't get it. I honestly don't.

What a big fuss over mammary glands.

There's nothing wrong with ff and the choice to ff is not what my post is about. It's about the fact that there's nothing wrong with bf. I don't know why there's such a screwed up attitude about a totally natural thing.

at "it's unnatural". Some people really do say that. Idiots.

Not surprised at all by the DM article. If mothers breastfeed then they're wrong and if mothers bottle-feed then they're wrong. You can't bloody win unless you are a white, middle-class, heterosexual, right-wing male. I wouldn't even use the DM to line my cats' litter tray in case it turned them into massive racists.

As for the breastfeeding doll, I think it's cute and the people that are getting their knickers in a twist about it clearly have issues. I'm normally open-minded but I would judge my arse off at someone that thinks breastfeeding is sexual.