A breast feeding doll?

[Indylady]

I think its weird.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 8/9/2009 12:49:10 PM
Author: fatafelice
I wouldn''t have any problem with a daughter pretending to breastfeed if it is something she had witnessed and was imitating. That seems natural to me. I do have a problemw with the decorative nipple vest and the sucking motion. Those just aren''t necessary, IMO.

Big ditto. The whoe thing that the daughter has to put on this vest, and the sucking motion is a little over the top..?? I dunno, I am more the kind of person that says use your imagination....

 

[Moh 10]

Maybe I'm just jaded, but I think they knew exactly what they were doing.

They knew that the vest, the nipple flowers and the sucking action would get them worldwide free publicity (and resultant sales) because of its shock value, especially in the states.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

In Child Development during HS we had a doll that was fed by shoving a key in it''s back. That''s a good alternative.

 

[April20]

I heard about this the other day and am kind of freaked out. While I realize that bfeeding is a natural thing, it''s not natural when it involves a doll, a fake "nipple" and a young child. What''s next? Something that helps them imitate pregnancy and/or childbirth? Or the sex that results in pregnancy???

 

[CJ2008]

weird, and creepy...

 

[partgypsy]

I guess I''m weird but I don''t see how this is seen as so strange and disturbing. Maybe poor product design (will a kid want to strap on a halter every time it wants to pretend to feed it''s doll?). If anything it''s slightly more educational than most the toys floating around out there. And if you read the description, no there are no fake nipples, just a flowered halter top, there is nothing obscene about the appearance.

Both my neice and my daughter around the time I was pregnant and nursing my youngest, would stuff a baby doll under their shirts, and then pull the baby doll out (give birth to their baby). They would also pull up their shirt to pretend to nurse their baby. Heck if it makes them any more likely to breast feed their real infant when they are adults it can only be a good thing.

Or are you still telling your kids that a stork brought them?

 

[MonkeyPie]

This reminds me of that Barbie from back in the day that had a pregnant stomach that you could pop off, take out the baby, and put on a flat stomach after. Cause you know, women spring RIGHT back to pre-pg weight and all!

There was some controversy of that one, too, but it sold quite a few before being pulled. This BFing doll seems a lot more extreme, and while I have no problem with kids simulating the act - especially of their mothers did it, and they understand that it''s natural - it just seems weird that they try SO hard to make toys that are "realistic." What happened to playing pretend for real?

 

[Moh 10]

To kids, more realism is more cool.

I remember back in the 60s my sister got a Kenner Easy-Bake Oven.
It had a heat source (a light bulb) and real cake mix that make a real cake IIRC.

Remote control planes that really fly are more cool than ones that don't..
Toy cars that made a VAROOOOOOM sound were more cool than cars that were silent.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 8/9/2009 9:56:24 PM
Author: Moh 10
To kids, more realism is more cool.

I remember back in the 60s my sister got a Kenner Easy-Bake Oven.
It had a heat source (a light bulb) and real cake mix that make a real cake IIRC.

Remote control planes that really fly are more cool than ones that depend on the imagination.
Toy cars that made a VAROOOOOOM sound were more cool than cars that were silent.

You can''t even begin to compare things like that, Moh, not even CLOSE. Baking a cake is NOT the same as BFing, sorry.

Let''s say a kid was 5, and had a newborn little brother/sister that was breastfed. That would seem normal to that child because they never saw anything different, and so this particular doll might not be so strange/possibly misinterpreted. But to a kid that does not have a younger sibling that was BF''ed, I can totally see how this could become overly-sexualized. The understanding of food coming from their mothers breast would not be there, all they would see is a babydoll attached to a nipple and obviously suckling.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 8/9/2009 9:48:40 PM
Author: MonkeyPie
This reminds me of that Barbie from back in the day that had a pregnant stomach that you could pop off, take out the baby, and put on a flat stomach after. Cause you know, women spring RIGHT back to pre-pg weight and all!

There was some controversy of that one, too, but it sold quite a few before being pulled. This BFing doll seems a lot more extreme, and while I have no problem with kids simulating the act - especially of their mothers did it, and they understand that it''s natural - it just seems weird that they try SO hard to make toys that are ''realistic.'' What happened to playing pretend for real?

You said it better than me, +1

 

[Elegant]

I emailed my male friend the link and info about this and here is what he had to say:

"Was this designed for horny men who wished they could breast feed for life?"

 

[bee*]

Date: 8/9/2009 6:24:34 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 8/9/2009 12:49:10 PM

Author: fatafelice

I wouldn''t have any problem with a daughter pretending to breastfeed if it is something she had witnessed and was imitating. That seems natural to me. I do have a problemw with the decorative nipple vest and the sucking motion. Those just aren''t necessary, IMO.

Big ditto. The whoe thing that the daughter has to put on this vest, and the sucking motion is a little over the top..?? I dunno, I am more the kind of person that says use your imagination....

Yeah I agree with both ladies above. I think it''s the whole decorative vest that I''d have a problem with. I suppose though that if it gets girls to BF in the future it''s a good thing.

 

[justginger]

Date: 8/9/2009 12:33:25 PM
Author: purrfectpear
So far the only person using the term obscene is you, Kennedy. As to why some of us find this disturbing and not when a little girl plays with a pretend bottle, it''s quite simple.

In America we don''t typically use wet nurses. The only person nursing our child is ourselves. I suspect most of us would find it ''disturbing'' to hand our child off and have a stranger nurse it. Bottle feeding on the other hand is something that the grandmom, sister, friend, or even daughter might perform for us.

It''s the issue of a prepubescent child pretend nursing with her own breasts that I think we find disturbing. Obviously it could not happen in the real world. A responsible child could bottle feed her little sister. Breastfeeding is reserved for women old enough to produce milk, not children. I wouldn''t want my child to play pretend episiotomy or labor either.

This is exactly how I feel about it. There are things that belong in the adult world, and not in the world of children. I don''t want children to act out sex, birth, genetic disabilities, depression, or death - even though they''re all naturally occuring. It''s pushing adult concepts on to tots. Just as I probably wouldn''t encourage a 6 year old to practice putting on condoms (even thoguh it''s part of their future sexuality), I have no interest in encouraging them to practice breastfeeding.

I also think it is sexualizing young children, despite its "good intentions." Yes, BF is natural. No, I don''t care who does it in public, so long as there''s a *bit* of modesty about it (and please, feel free to do so next to me on an airplane, no complaints here). HOWEVER, I think a lot of old guys around the world will be getting quite excited about this sort of "play." Disgusting as it is, I''m sure it''s true. I don''t think having a bottle-feeding doll will be nearly as provocative to someone with those tendencies as an imaginary breast-feeding one. Despite protestations that BFing is what breasts are for, they''re also sexual organs on the female adult body. I don''t think you could poll 100 men and not have 99 of them agree to that statement (actually, I''d go as far as to say that I''m not sure that in most cases you''d get less than 100). I''m not interested in making children any more appealing to perverts than they already are (especially these days - with 8 year olds in spandex and makeup).

 

[Mara]

imo it''s just one more way to make the kids grow up faster than they should. why can''t kids just be kids like they used to be? kids don''t even HAVE breasts. honestly.

 

[tlh]

Date: 8/9/2009 6:24:34 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 8/9/2009 12:49:10 PM
Author: fatafelice
I wouldn''t have any problem with a daughter pretending to breastfeed if it is something she had witnessed and was imitating. That seems natural to me. I do have a problemw with the decorative nipple vest and the sucking motion. Those just aren''t necessary, IMO.

Big ditto. The whoe thing that the daughter has to put on this vest, and the sucking motion is a little over the top..?? I dunno, I am more the kind of person that says use your imagination....

AGREED!

I guess I used to put my dollies to my chest all the time when I was little (my baby bro is 18 months younger than I am) and it used to mortify my mom. But, hey, I wanted to be just like my mommy... and I could do that without strapping on a vest with flower nipples.

This vest is what makes this over the top.

 

[swingirl]

This thread is really amusing. I guess things were more relaxed when I was growing up in the 50s-60s. I gave "birth" to my dolls on the front porch all the time. Baby dolls were very popular. They drank from bottles and peed. Young girls like me learned to change diapers, feed our "babies", birth our "babies" as well as cook and clean (I got a sweeper and wringer clothes washer for Christmas. They were so fun to play with!). I also nursed my doll against my rib cage.

Since I played with my dolls at home there weren't any men watching me and getting turned on. My doll play was a private thing and I think most kids pretend when they are by themselves or playing with peers.

I wonder which culture is the most turned-off by BF.

 

[Shopaholic]

Geez, where is the line?! What''s next? Birth simulation??

just flabbergasted!

 

[Lynn B]

Honestly, I think the whole vest thing and the doll''s sucking are just plain WEIRD (I don''t think little girls need those "accessories"

to play mommy)

... but other than that, I''m rather apathetic about the whole thing!