i wonder if by buying this doll for your child, the parents will also have to have the birds and bees talk. and if that's the case, i am all for it.

Well, I'm the daughter of a hardcore breastfeeding activist and I didn't have a negative reaction, except a grumpy "oh, of course it's not sold in the States." I had a pair of stuffed dolls when I was little, mother and baby, and you could put the mother's arms in the right position and attach the baby to her breast -- this is nothing new to me. (Also, it didn't "speed up my maternal urges" having that doll -- at least, if it did they were unnaturally delayed.)

I think a breastfed doll makes a closer connection to motherhood, childbirth, and maybe, in the end, sex, compared to a bottle-fed doll (which could be anybody's baby). The involvement of the body somehow turns my mind to very serious thoughts about childbearing and young pregnancy in a way that an ordinary doll doesn't. It seems like it's a step closer to a doll that comes with a strap-on pregnant belly.

I still don't think it's good to be disturbed by the idea of children emulating pregnant adult women. It's sort of ridiculous to think that playing mother, however realistically, is going to lead a girl to run out and take sexual risks. The increased realism might remind adults that childhood isn't forever, and bring to mind all the hardships and risks of adult life looming in the future. But I don't know, I get the vibe that people are squicked out about right now, not the specter of adulthood for adorable children.

I find that doll totally offensive and creepy, because they keep marketing these kind of dolls to little girls. Like they are telling girls, "HEY LOOK! SOMEDAY YOU ARE GOING TO BECOME A MOTHER AND HAVE A KID!"

It rubs me the wrong way, because they're basically telling us that girls and women should all aspire to become baby-making machines and have children.

Uh, NO THANKS!

As for breasts, I see this argument go both ways. Let's not forget that long ago, women's breasts were seen as milk machines for babies and not used for sexual pleasure, period. Today, breasts are popular (duh...) and women are encouraged to take pride in their breasts.

There is nothing wrong with breasts being put in a sexual light, but I think it's become so oversexualized, that obviously, it makes some people uncomfortable to see little girls pretending to breast-feed those baby dolls.

This is so silly. I mean, think about it-- what little girls are going to want to imitate breastfeeding? NEW BIG SISTERS! Little kids want to imitate the grownups in their lives, and if Mommy is breastfeeding, they're going to imitate that. This toy seems like something a breastfeeding mother might buy to help her older child understand what she's doing with the new baby. It's that simple. Yeesh.

I feel that a lot of the criticisms of this toy (not here, other places) aren't going beyond the knee-jerk "does this sexualize a child's body" issue.

My problem with it isn't about whether it's sexual. My problem is that it reinforces the assumption that our daughters should dream of becoming mothers, and see the responsibilities of motherhood as part of a game. I'm sure all of this has been said before about baby dolls. I'll stop before I open up a can of worms.

I also remember plenty of innocent games I played as a child that I look back on now with a little embarrassment, realizing their context. Although I wouldn't mind my (imaginary) child playing with this toy, they might look back on it and feel a little uncomfortable. That matters to me.

I am a young white male, and I immediately felt uncomfortable the second I realized what the toy was made to mimic. There was additional strain with the fact that my attention is being drawn to the chest of a young girl. I feel wrong. I don't feel that I should be looking. I feel as though I'm a bad person for watching this or that I've crossed some boundary by seeing this. I'm not saying that what I feel is the right or wrong way to feel, but it is the honest first impression I get.

I think the issue is primarily one of sexuality because of how breast are contrued in our culture.

As Jesse wrote, many men feel uncomfortable looking at young girls' breasts and women feel uncomfortable thinking about men doing so. There's a deep concern of a becoming-pedophile or a triggering of some sexual or maternal feelings in a girl too young to become a succesful mother.

These dolls really challenge the dualisms of virgin mother/sexual woman and woman/girl. Notably, there is general fear that the good/sexual feelnigmothers derive from breastfeeding via oxytocin are perverse asmotherhood should be separated from sexuality.

Also, see a more in-depth discussion on "good motherhood" and the construction of breasts as "for-men" or "for-babies" as well as a rethinking of the man/woman, virgin mother/sexual woman dichotomies, and the issue of animality within breastfeeding which triggers disgust.

Here is a comment I left about it on another site:
I am torn. I don't think that there is anything wrong with it, but I also don't think it is really necessary. My only problem with it is the little shirt that the girls put on to make it work. The only reason I don't like that is that is makes it less natural. Most parents of breastfeeding babies that have older siblings will tell you that their older ones end up breastfeeding their "regular" dolls anyways. And from what I have heard and seen, this doll doesn't do much but make awful cries and noises. I think it is a GREAT concept, but could be better executed. Having a way for it to suckle without the little girl needing to wear a contraption, having the baby make more pleasant noises too, etc. The best thing about this though is that it recognizes that little girls see breastfeeding as natural and it teaches little girls what breasts are for, BEFORE they become completely sexualized! Can you imagine what would happen to the breastfeeding rates if this happened more?
Many women that are turned off from bfing are because they can't get past breasts as sexual objects. And that is what causes the outrage regarding women nursing in public. People forget that we were DESIGNED to breastfeed, God made us this way, and Jesus was nursed! So, anything like this helps create a dialogue (no matter how ridiculous some of it is) and demands people see it. So, for that, it is wonderful!!!

I don't know why this would be more offensive than any other doll except that I don't like dolls that do stuff FOR the kid. I mean, both my kids pretended to breastfeed their babies (both my son and my daughter -- my son used to also bring his trucks for me to nurse) and my daughter is right now leading her dolls around the family room pretending to help them cook dinner. Both my kids had dolls, both my kids pretended to be a parent and I'm all for it. (As for the idea that it teaches kids only to aspire to motherhood? That's not true unless that's the only toy you get them. My daughter loves her dolls and her building blocks and her doctor's kit and her tool set. Why shouldn't she dream of being a mom and -- her current plan -- an artist? And my son loved his dolls, too, although he grew out of playing with them sooner than his sister has, which may be gendered or may just be because he liked his stuffed animals better.)

My only issue with the doll is that it does the pretending FOR the kid. Like Baby Alive or Baby Walks Around or Baby Roller Skates While Playing the Bugle or any other battery operated doll, this one dictates the play and I'm against that. Which is why the baby dolls in our house don't do anything but lie there (oh and close their eyes when you lay them down -- that's as high tech as they get).

yeah this product is definitely for new big siblings. my brother used to pretend breastfeed a doll when my mother was breastfeeding me(i think he asked for the doll, im not sure). i guess i dont really see the need for the fake nipple mechanism. cant you just pretend?

Like nora says, what's the point in making a doll that can make "chup, chup" noises when it's near "nipples" -- kids are quite capable of using their own imagination. A positive attitude towards breastfeeding comes from family and/or society treating it as a natural and normal phase in child development.

When my son was born, my then 3-year-old daughter was incredibly excited. She watched him get his diaper changed, or get breastfed, and started doing the same things with her own doll. And with a teddy bear. And with a stuffed giraffe. (And she also would occasionally tell them to "stop crying so much it's annoying", something I was in the habit of telling the real-life infant, but a sentiment she obviously heartily believed...)

Frankly, I find any hyper-realistic baby doll to be a little scary, whether it's nursing, crawling, peeing, eating...

I think the reason it's creepy is the uncanny valley thing... But the reason I would stand against it is that, unlike a doll about feeding from a bottle or a doll that poops and pees, breastfeeding can at least indirectly be sexualized because it most decidedly assumes the physical sexual maturity that girls this age don't have. Not to mention, it's toys that try to teach little girls their future roles as reproducers and nurturers of our young, making girls play about stuff that they will be expected to do when they grow up, instead of playing to nourish their imagination and try to fulfill themselves in some way, and would likely be on the same shelf with the toys about washing dishes and cleaning the house.
and now I've watched the demonstration video and think it's extremely disturbing and, to me, it's definitely within the uncanny valley thing.

How is it really any different than bottle feeding dolls?

While I'm not a big fan of dolls because it does reinforce the whole "women cook, clean, and have babies" thing, I don't think its a big deal.

This is a little off subject, but for my parent/child development class that I had in highschool, we had the option of taking home a doll that was fairly realistic. It cried randomly, you had to feed it, change its diaper, rock it, burp it, not drop it on its head...lol. Everything had electronic sensors and such on it, and you had a wrist band that you had to wear and touch to it when burping, holding, ect. Anyway, you had the option of using the bottle or a little clip on sensor to simulate breast feeding. I guess its different because its with students though.

It's creepy because it does all the playing for you, as others note. Nothing much wrong with kids pretending to breastfeed, but everything wrong with the idea that you can't play breastfeeding unless you have battery-powered nipples.

Yeah, I agree with some of these other commentators: the only thing weird here is that they seem to think you need a special vest to play at breast feeding. Seems to me that the best doll, if your kid wants one, is one that is just a doll and encourages the rest in imagination. If your kid can't come up with breast feeding and pooping (and probably more insane things) on their own, you've got other problems.

For more fun, go to the doll maker's website and look around the "Educativa" category, esp. the "Amigos del Mundo" ("Friends from around the World") section. Ow.

The suckling doll is the top one under "Mecanismos", if you felt curious. The next one is supposed to teach you the numbers by using a cellphone, and the rest are the usual crying/trembling/peeing/pooping/crawling baby dolls. They are rather ugly, and I don't recall ever seeing this brand ever being advertised on TV anyway, but the Christmas campaign is beginning in a few months, so...

The first report (and only, for the moment) I've found about this in the Spanish media (the conservative newspaper ABC) is rather critical of US sensibilities, by the way.

As others have noted, I have seen plenty of little girls imitate this activity anyway, with "regular" dolls, because they grew up in healthy households where they saw their younger siblings nurse.

Reanimated Horse,

I can't imagine why little girls ought not to play at or dream of being mothers. What a strange idea. The future of humanity relies on a pretty good number of little girls becoming mothers.

I am also a bit perplexed by Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist's conceit that motherhood, actual or pretend, equates to reducing a person to a mere "baby-making machine." Having a doll does not preclude a child from having a toy doctor bag or bulldozer, any more than having a baby precludes a woman from being a doctor, lawyer, engineer--as any number of my friends can attest.

The hostility on offer at the very idea of childbirth and child-raising is remarkable. Raising a family is not a part of my life, and that by choice, but it is a large and rewarding part of the lives of many of my friends.

The real problem is not that we live in a world in which our girls have dolls, but that our boys do not. If girls get toys that encourage them to be caring, nurturing and responsible, at least one gender is getting a push in the right direction. Can we get the boys a toy refrigerator with bottles of pre-pumped breastmilk?

When I was growing up my mother breastfed openly. When I was playing with baby dolls I'd pull up my shirt and have them nurse. It wasn't sexual or creepy, and it didn't mean I was going to grow up to have children or be a stay at home mother. The only thing about this that bothers me is that both little boys and little girls have nipples; why do they need fake ones? From my perspective, this seems mostly designed to keep them from associating their actual nipples with potential future children.

Breastfeeding isn't easy, and I suspect children play-nursing early might help them later when they have to do the real thing.

Actually, my breasts aren't "for men" OR "for babies", they're for ME, as in a part of my very own body, thank you. I shall do with them as I wish, and nobody will tell me otherwise.

When I was a kid, I remember quite enough propaganda aimed at telling me that being a mom was "good" and "right" and "what you're eventually going to want to do anyway, no matter how you feel about it because you're a girl."
Not that I advocate demonizing motherhood for young girls! I just think we have the other side pretty well covered.
I absolutely think that normalizing breastfeeding from a young age is a great idea, I just don't think all girls are going to like the idea of doing so in relation to their OWN bodies, and the ones that do will (as everyone points out) use other toys. Ditto for boys.

I really think this doll is most valuable just as a reminder to adults that they should mention breastfeeding to their kids.

I think people's reactions are more against the bra than the breast-feeding "chup chup" of the doll. If it played that sound by being held at a certain angle I doubt it would raise this controversy. I'd say parents don't want their four year old wearing a bra. It's much easier to sexualise that when the market for lingerie is what it is today. Too many suggestions of fertility and a sexual coming-of-age are tied in with bras for people to feel comfortable with that image.

I'm hugely in favor of breast-feeding, and I regularly am annoyed at the normalization of bottle-feeding in children's media. For fuck's sake, I once watched an animated video in which a mama PENGUIN bottle-fed her baby. 1) PENGUINS AREN'T MAMMALS AND DON'T FEED MILK TO THEIR BABIES, but 2) EVEN IF THEY DID, IT WOULD BE FROM BREASTS, NOT BOTTLES!!!!!!!

Oh my god, my head just about exploded with the wrongness.

Anyway, the main thing about this doll that I would improve is that you don't need a special dolly to practice breast-feeding. As any parent who breast-feeds while having a younger child in the house can tell you, they'll breast-feed any old doll or stuffed animal they can get their hands on if they watch mom do it long enough.

Oh, and for those who think it's a girl thing only, ha! I know more than one parent whose 2-to-4-year-old boy imitated breast-feeding.

An astute friend of mine brought this to our attention on facebook a few days ago. The discussion predictably exploded. One male friend wanted to know why there were no positive parenting toys for boys. Another male friend wanted to know why girls were taught so early on that childbearing is the only way they will be valuable in life. One female friend thought the vest with nipples on it was too bizarre to get past, while another female friend noted that the child has no real body impact (she stays young and thin) so that might lead to unrealistic expectations of how she should weather pregnancy and child nurturing. Our friend who recently had a baby wanted to know if they made the doll realistic enough that it took a month of hunger, frustration and chapped nipples on the "mom's" vest for it to learn to nurse properly. Reviews all seemed to follow the line of "breastfeeding is great but..."
My thoughts were that while everyone brought valid issues to the table, it was the new mom that was on to something. By providing girls with toys like this we support the idea that breastfeeding is easy; when in fact for a totally natural thing that all mammals evolved to do - it's amazed me how hard it can be and how much goes wrong. I have watched my sister dutifully try to breastfeed three children and then beat herself up each time when she wasn't able to and had to incorporate a bottle. And this is someone who does not bow to social pressure in alot of other areas.
So you have your toy and you use it to breast feed your "baby" and when you do it you are a "good" mother. If you aren't able to or chose not to are you a "bad" mother? Where is the truly realistic toy that comes with the cracked bleeding nipple pastied vest, the one nipple shield that was all you could get from that hospital and that was after the lactation coach told you that you were 'lazy', and the child that cries constantly because it is always hungry?
Long post but my point is this - sometimes it is not just that we usher children to specific roles before the children fully understand them, sometimes it's not that we sexualize things to the point of absurdity, it's just that we moralize and over-simplify things, rather than being forthright, unbiased and honest. I think our kids can handle it and we owe it to them.

the only thing i find disturbing about this doll is the bra that comes along with it that includes flowers for nipples. if girls want to play breast-feed dolls, that's fine and awesome. but the flower/nipples give me the creeps.

I am not totally sure how I feel about this; on the one hand, I hate the fact that toys intended for girls all seem to reinforce traditional gender roles, but on the other hand, I agree that some of the negative reaction people (myself included) feel to this may come from the fact that we have cultural hang-ups about breastfeeding.

On the other hand I do think there's something of an additional difference between bottle-feeding a doll and breast-feeding a doll. If a little girl is bottle-feeding a doll, then there's not as strong an implication that she is the doll's mother. I remember pretending one of my dolls was my little sister and that I was babysitting her; if you're actually breast-feeding the doll then that interpretation is harder to get. I don't know that this changes anything or that my own childhood play was particularly representative, but I wonder if this might also contribute to the reaction.

I don't think this doll is sexual because breastfeeding is not sexual. It's that simple.

And on another note, kids like to emulate what they see their parents doing. It's how they learn. I had a play kitchen when I was a little girl, as well as a play laundry set now that I think about it, and I don't think it was offensive and enforcing gender stereotypes on me. It wasn't because I was a girl, it was because I saw my mom cooking and doing laundry and I wanted to, too.

Oh, and I think it's ridiculous that anyone is upset that the baby doll "does the work" for the child. Seriously? It makes suckling noises and cries - it's a TOY. Toys make noise. It's fun for kids when toys make noise.

I don't really see a problem here, and I didn't have much of a reaction. Yeah, I recognize the "problem" but... eh. Only people who don't have an issue with breastfeeding would buy this doll for their child. (Although, why bother? As others have noted, you don't need a special-purpose doll to pretend-nurse, if that's what you want to do.) I'm a bit surprised it's gotten to the point of "controversy" in Europe.

I'm always wary of marry-and-reproduce propaganda (plus, I was never really into dolls), but the more I think about it, the more I kind of like it. It's a little more real, and not in a "it burps and poops!" kind of way.

I don't care to comment on the doll right now.

I just want to say that the commenters talking about "baby making machines" are part of the problem. I understand where the rage comes from and that women are capable of more than having and raising kids. But by saying "baby making machines" you are dehumanizing the woman and invalidating the work that she does. It just goes to show that what I do will never be considered real work and I should aspire to be "better" than what I am and that there is something inherently wrong with me because of the choice I made to stay home with my son in his early years and that the rest of society sees me as a machine and not as a human being because I happened to give birth. Fantastic.

And just because I am feeling sorry for myself I will share with you all what I encounter every time I go to a restaurant with my husband and have to make small talk with the server:

Server - So what do you guys do?
Me - I am a stay at home mom.
Server - Ohh (with eyes widened in a condescending tone)
Husband - I am a chemical engineering student.
Server - WOW! That's really intense! (Cue 5 minute talk about how smart husband is while I sit there and listen)

No one asks about my interests or passions because we value people based on their career choice. My job is dismissed as not being real and I am deemed unfit for human interaction.

Everyone talks about new moms being isolated but it extends way beyond the new point if you are a stay at home mom. Your very existence is ignored because you are thought of as less of a person.

Unfortunately the author does not know what is talking about, the BEBE GLOTON ( the breastfeeding doll) is adorable and yes your daughter will be very happy to have one and you will love it. Right now is only available on eBay and there are only a few left. It was also on sale on Amazon but the distributor in the USA only started selling on Amazon a couple of months ago and to be able to sell toys on Amazon for the Christmas season you have to have about 25 sales and he only had like 18 , so it is not available there until after Christmas but on ebay it is not problem or you can just email him at garamchai1@aol.com and pay by check, money order or pay pal. If you buy directly from him you can get it for $105 including shipping in the USA

My niece is 3 and very observant, her little brother arrived earlier this year. Whenever mom lets her "hold" him - setting the boppy pillow around her and him on the pillow, my niece pulls him close and pretends to breastfeed. She does the same with her stuffed giraffe. She's mimicking the way she sees her mother caring for her little brother. It's very sweet, and shows how much children watch what adults in their life do. I didn't have the same reaction to the doll, because it normalizes breastfeeding instead of treating it as inappropriate (in public) unlike bottle feeding.

I'm disgusted that anyone would think that children should be told about the chapped nipples and how hard it is to nurse. Should we also tell our children how much it hurts to give birth and what tears, stitches and a swollen vagina feel like. Get off the bitter bus.

I used to always pretend to breastfeed my dolls. I didn't need a weird pretend bra/baby thing to do it but when i played with baby dolls I naturally held them to my chest to "feed" them. It was natural as my mother had breast fed me. No one seemed to think anything of it.

I know this is an old thread, but I had to respond after seeing it today for the first time. First, it's amusing to me the difference in the comments between parents and non-parents. Non-parents are very judgmental of parents ("I'd never let my kids do X...") in general, so this is no exception. (No real blame meant...I was a serious offender before becoming a mother.)

Girls play with dolls. No matter how hard you shelter them, someone will give them a doll. Yes, I keep barbies away from my 3yr old, but she has several dolls she's received as gifts. She mostly ignores them, but today (as I was nursing my own baby) she picked up a baby pony (that my infant son loves) and it said to her "mommy feed baby" so I told her to get the bottle. Having just read this post, I realized how absurd this was: I was breastfeeding my baby in front of her, yet when her toy wanted to be fed, I told her to get a bottle? She's never seen a baby bottle-feed before. So I said "You know what? You can feed your baby the way I am feeding my baby." And she snuggled it up to her chest sweetly. I don't know what to make of the cross-species nursing though ;)

As for the commenter who felt it was "wrong" to have his eyes drawn to the chest of a young girl, I feel that it's unfortunate that breasts are so sexualized that he cannot even watch a 6yr old snuggle a doll to her chest for fear of being labeled a pervert.

let me share a personal story. At the age of eight I won in a Christmas lottery a super KIT car in which I inserted a coin and it runned up and down. Shortly after a classmate of mine came to my house with his mother because he had won a baby doll with very few hair. My mother talked me into giving my beautiful car to the little boy because girls are supposed to play with dolls and boys with cars. I was frustrated and now, I'm 32, I have promised to myself that if I ever have a girl to not choose the toys for her or to manipulate her into choosing toys.
It is unacceptable to let little girls fake breastfeeding, they can choose to do that when the time comes. Why not let children be children and spark their imagination and their understanding of the world with other toys.

I know this is an old thread, but the comments have me all riled up, so I would like to comment.

1. Buying a breastfeeding doll for a young girl does not in any way tell her the only thing she will be good at is is raising children. Raising children is an option for her in the future and if she wants to play as such, that is fine. You can certainly foster other interests and tell her "you can do whatever you want" --- and then she will do whatever she wants when she grows up.

2. My 4 yo daughter says when she grows up she wants to be a mommy with kids. I have a graduate degree and work outside the home -- and I am absolutely fine with her choosing that path.

Plus, in her 4 yo world - she is the most important thing. It makes sense to me that she would want to grow up and take care of little beings like herself.

3. We NEED good moms who take good care of their kids. Why wouldn't you want to foster that in a young girl?

4. Breastfeeding is maligned/ostracized in our society. It can be hard to get started, there are birth-related, economical, physical and work-related "booby traps" that make it harder to nurse. Why not create a "norm of breastfeeding" so that our future mothers will stick it out through the rough patches to continue breastfeeding (which is objectively better for moms and babies)?

actually, the "magic nursery" line of dolls had a
doll that simulated pregnancy and birth...it was
called "my bundle baby"....there's a video for it
on youtube far as i know....

WTF DO WE NEED THIS FOR ?

Kids mimic. that is a way of learning. when they put on lipstick first it is mimicing what mommy does. you do not need a special bar to mimic breast feading, just like you do not need a bootle to feed a baby. Is this a cultural thing ? HEck yes. but I doubt it has anything to do with sex. MOre with a systemic cultural devaluing (under teh guise of sexuality) of anything NATURAL in motherhood or otherwise. You do not need formula to raise a child. Thanks to Formula (consider the name for a moment) you don't NEED to expose your breasts in public which MUST be a shameful thing because women's bodies are open to all kinds of judgement. In this country (and I have lived and mothered in others) you have issues with natural things. everything needs to be sanitized and *purified*.....I think it is significant, but I doubt that it is as easy as sex. The one thing it does is normalizing breastfeeding. BUT kids will only play the intended way with teh dolls if they actually SEE women breastfeeding. an act SO considered (against all lipservice) obscene that FB directly BANS every picture depicting breastfeeding women. (And they act much faster on those than on hate group and rapepromoting groups) sex is just ONE aspect and I doubt it is the defining one

Although I am aware that this discussion is old, I must comment because of the comments that have gotten me so worked up.

1. Purchasing a doll that is breastfeeding does not in any way imply to a young girl that the only thing she will be good at is raising children. She has the option of becoming a parent in the future, thus it is acceptable if she chooses to play the role now. You can certainly encourage her to pursue other interests and tell her that she is free to pursue her interests as she grows older.

2. My 4-year-old daughter says she wants to have children when she grows up and is a mother. I'm an advanced degree holder, and I work outside the home.

If you are interested in reading about fitness i would suggest you to check out this push pull legs routine