There are many strange toys for children, but none are as weird as this . . . The “Breast Milk Baby” doll will be hitting a store near you. This doll, created by Berjuan Toys in Spain, allows little girls to learn all about breastfeeding.
For only $89, your daughter can put on a special halter-top that has a flower “nipple” on both sides. She holds the little baby, one of the dolls is named “Savannah,” up to the flower nipple, and the doll makes a suckling motion with her mouth. And Savannah makes suckling sounds during this process.
After your little girl is done feeding her doll, she can burp Savannah, so she can sleep safe and sound.
I’m all for breastfeeding, and I think that a doll that teaches children about breastfeeding is GREAT, but this doll disturbs me. Maybe the thought of a young girl holding a doll up to her breasts to “nurse” makes me cringe. Little girls shouldn’t be thinking about breasts… not like that… not yet.
Oh, and get this – the doll’s demographics are “boys and girls, two years and older.”
Well, ready or not. The “Breast Milk Baby” doll is headed to U.S. stores. According to the company’s website, TheBreastMilkBaby.com, this doll has sold millions in Europe. They also claim that dozens of advocacy dolls have endorsed the doll.
Visit the company’s website to learn more about this doll. And check out the video of the doll in action:
So, what do you guys think? Do you think this toy is a helpful educational tool, or just weird?
Backwards is right, but bottles are the least of it, I think.
With such highly sexualized dolls (like the Bratz collection for example) sweeping our nation’s shelves, constantly pushing the boundaries of what should be considered appropriate for a younger and younger audience of girls, I think that something like this could possibly be start of a refreshing change. I’ll be one of the first to admit that this doll still makes me a little uneasy — but how much of that has to do with simply being brought up in such a society? Maybe we shouldn’t run from the fact that it makes us a little uneasy — maybe we should face it with an open mind so that the next generation won’t be bogged down with such unnatural hang-ups. In all honesty, as unconventional as this doll my seem, when my daughters’ generation has their turn, I’d be THRILLED if it were dolls like this sweeping store shelves, and instead it were dolls that glamorize shamelessly trashy, provocative “fashion” to girls of doll-playing age that made parents cringe.
I think it’s really interesting to read the comments and opinions of mothers who are for the doll. (I fully support breastfeeding BTW. even though the doll weirds me out.) But keep commenting. This is a great discussion 🙂
I Agree whole heartedly with Rebecca and Melissa! WTH is the issue with Breastfeeding in American. Its not teaching little boys and girls about Breasts in a sexual way but in the most natural way possible. Oh but you will give a little girl a doll with a Bottle. How natural is that!!!. I will buy this doll and I will tell people who ask or are rude as to why my daughter is breastfeeding a doll.. Because its more natural than shoving a bottle down their throat!
Does ANYONE think it’s “weird” or “private” or “not something we should be teaching kids yet” when a baby doll comes with a BOTTLE?? Really people. Let’s as a culture get over having the creeps when it comes to breastfeeding. Nobody seems to be able to handle a little girl practicing feeding her “baby” in the most normal, natural, real way. But something unnatural and artificial like bottle feeding – no one bats an eye. Something is backwards here….
I think this doll is AWESOME!
I have breastfed all 3 of my kids and still breastfeed my 10 month old.
My 2 1/2 year old sees me do it and takes her baby dolls and holds them to her chest to nurse.
I LOVE IT! It’s promoting something natural and normal- why is it weird???
Maybe there shouldn’t be a way to feed baby dolls bottles, either then.
Pretend play is pretend play. My little girl isn’t thinking sexually about breasts- she knows breasts are for making milk for a baby!
Get over it. It is so sad America has so many hang ups over what is RIGHT AND NATURAL.
Interesting post. Like the previous comments, I see it’s use and purpose and I’m a big supporter of breastfeeding, but something about this seems wrong. Or maybe not wrong, but just ‘not right’. While breastfeeding is natural and to be commended and supported, I’m not sure that a child needs to replicate and/or practice it. Thanks for the post!
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i dont know about other moms but i know my children copy stuff that i do, no matter how much i tell them not to in some cases. from what i say (especially cussing it seems, lol) to cooking, to the way i dress, to carrying a doll in a carrier or pulling their shirt up to breastfeed their dolls because its what i was doing, my kids have duplicated just about everything i have done at one point or another. so, whether i was to get a doll like this or not my children will still “breastfeed” their dolls. every time they copy me on breastfeeding i do sit down with them and discuss what exactly they are duplicating, and that is exactly why people are going to have issues with this doll, because they aren’t sure about discussing, or scared to discuss, it with their child.
I saw this doll on the Today Show awhile back. I understand how this could be considered “taboo” in the USA. I think most of us consider breastfeeding to be a natural, but a private thing. I couldn’t see teaching my young daughter how to do this with her doll, and then watching her replicate this in front of her friends at school. I can only image the questions I’d get from other parents.
Very weird, lol. A little too much.
While personally it made be make a dirty face at the computer screen, the logical side of me see’s the point. I mean we DO let them push their dolls around in prams, carry them in slings, change their diapers and feed them bottles, so it really is just one more step to imaginary play. But yeah, not for me!
For me it feels weird. Like teaching the child to grow up before her time.
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I heard about this from a blog a few months ago. I think it’s really weird. I mean, I have nothing against breastfeeding, but I don’t think little boys and girls need to learn about it, especially with a doll.
they have to learn something about breasts, so do we teach them about the sexualized view of them? i’d rather teach my children (the boys too) that breasts arent first used for sexual uses, theyre primary (and most important) for nurishment of babies. i know that most little kids, especially little girls, immitate what they see, so when my little girls started copying me breastfeeding my 4th baby i sat down with them and discussed what they were copying.