How can breastfeeding be seen as normal if....

[beckles]

I saw an ad yesterday for a doll (baby love n kisses or some such nonsence) and the little girls on the ad were giving the baby a bottle. How can breastfeeding ever be seen as something normal and natural if children are encouraged to model by play, bottle feeding an infant? I feel so defeited by this kind of toy. Why can't they sell dolls without bottles? At least this would give children the chance to play/model breastfeeding, i beleive there is no hope with these kind of toys on the market. no wonder our breastfeeding rates are so low.

grrrrr,
beckles

[Trillian]

I know what you mean Beckles, but I think there would jsut be too many prudes out there saying that encouraging little girls to role play BF their dolls is wrong kwim? Plus there is also the fact that little girls will imitate what they see people around them do - so if FF is predominant in the house then that's what they will imitate. Sad but true though isn't it?

[Astrid]

I did not want Maggie to play with toy baby bottles, but they must have introduced them at childcare, as every time she see a baby doll with a bottle she likes to feed it. Either that or she see the babies being fed with bottles at childcare. At least though she does sometimes boobie feed her doll.

[aussienic]

But what about the little boys playing with dolls? My eldest son used to play with his "baby"

I personally think we look to much into things ( not having a go here) Little girls don't see it as different.. If they see mummy, Aunty or friend breastfeeding then thats important not whether they bottle feed a doll or not. I know of little girls who pretend to breastfeed their "babies"

[Adnil]

You know this had never occured to me until recently! I have been thinking of Emma's 'baby's' and how she will imitate more & more of what happens when the bub comes. But then I see how all the dolls come with bottles & it does annoy me!

I think it is absolutely ADORABLE to see little ones bf their babies!

[~kaos~]

I hear ya loud and clear.

I will never buy my children dolls with bottles.

My DS feeds his teddies milk - he pulls up his shirt! He also puts them in a sling (a kids sie one that I made him) and will give his toys booby milk in that

[Rouge]

I'm in two minds. I agree with boys feeding their babies, I also know that when Paris plays with her dolls she breastfeeds them but when she's playing with a friend she leaves them breastmilk in a bottle and lets her "friend" feed it with a bottle. Or she'll bring me the bottle and tell me she's "going out" so can I feed her baby whilst she's gone.

I think eradicating all toy bottles is unnecessary as I think there are a lot of working mothers who leave EBM for the carers for bubs to have.

I think however promoting breastfeeding to kids in imitation play is a greater step

*hugs*
Cailin

[Jennifer13]

when Paris plays with her dolls she breastfeeds them but when she's playing with a friend she leaves them breastmilk in a bottle and lets her "friend" feed it with a bottle. Or she'll bring me the bottle and tell me she's "going out" so can I feed her baby whilst she's gone.

OMG Cailin, how grown up is she?? That's just the cutest thing!!

I think Lucy will be more likely to imitate me anyway and although I won't encourage buying dolls with bottles, I think I'll avoid making an issue of it when she does get dolls with bottles.

Atm she's into feeding me with her spoon, so I think that's what the dolls are more likely to get!

[~Flossie~]

Atm she's into feeding me with her spoon, so I think that's what the dolls are more likely to get!

DD is more into feeding her babies with a spoon aswell.. she often tells me to hurry up ( when i am giving DS his food in the high chair) because her babies are hungry too.. Its her turn! lol .. my 3 years old....VERY set in her ways !

[aussienic]

well said Caro

[Liz]

hehe - I know your questions were rhetorical.. can't help myself

So baby annabel came with Disposables - so shoudl we complain and say thats wrong and teaching our kids bad habits and please include a material nappy ?

Yup! Altho I reckon kids will come to that conclusion themselves shortly the way environment seems to be hammered into them these days. I had a discussion with a 9 year old girl about cloth nappies - and she thinks they're great! LOL. She said she doesn't get why people use sposies

How about the tubs of lotons and potions that they come with ?

Dunno - depends on the lotions and potions I guess! heh

How about the shopping basket that comes complete with food including junk food

Yup - complain about that one too! What's wrong with a shopping basket full of fruit? Surely they don't come full of chips & biscuits? or do they??

How about the racing tracks that teach little boys to drive fast VERY FAST

LOL - this is why the less toys the better. Let kids just play with simple toys.. climb trees.. kick a ball around.

As for the bottle - I think it's sad if little girls think that's how you feed a baby. But I also agree that there's a bigger picture to what influences breastfeeding & bottlefeeding.

A friend of ours asked if her little girl (then about 2 1/2?) could watch me breastfeed Tallon, coz she wanted her to see it. She wasnt having any more kids so this little girl wouldn't see her breastfeeding a new bub. I was very happy to oblige. It was so cute, she giggled and thought it was very funny hehe. But it's sad that she doesn't just get to see it in general.. there just isn't enough exposure to breastfeeding

ETA: Oh no! Shannon! LOL *snap* (almost) Dammit! LOL.

[MantaRay]

It's true that I also fed a doll with a bottle when I was young. So in itself, it's probably not too much of a problem. However, it is the combination of factors I believe. The dolls have bottles, babies in children's books, on TV etc are bottle fed, for many children they are surrrounded by ff babies and never see bfing mums. In a family where mum is bfing, a bottle with a doll is probably less of an issue. But there are a larger number of children out there who are not seeing bfing regularly, or at all. For these children, bfing is not a normal activity and therefore they will be less likely to bf (or support their partners in bfing) when they grow up.

I agree with Caro to a point, that there is probably something wrong with most of the toys around. But I do make an effort to avoid the worst ones. And in knowing that the boys will be exposed to things I'm less than keen on (if not at home, then at play group and day care and other people's houses), I make an extra effort to ensure that the behaviour that is modelled for the boys is suitable. Because at the end of the day, what they play with and see on TV will have an influence, but nothing will overshadow the example set by the adults around them.

I love it when the other kids at day care (or elsewhere) watch me bfing. I feel like I'm doing a little bit to help normalise it for them while they are young. I am very proud that the 3yo DD of a friend (who was ffed from birth) recently "bfed" teddy in the playground. Both her parents thought it was because she had watched me bfing Thomas. Luckly they both thought it was a great thing that she has had that influence and is copying it.

[Trillian]

it's not about the way they 'fed' their doll as such but getting kids in the mindset that seeing dolls with bottles is the 'norm' of feeding infants. A lot of predjudices we have against anything are firstly formed by what our parents think and we have to make our own judgements on it later on, and if a child was in a house that frowned upon the breast as being the premium infant feeding method and that bottles were the norm and then that idea was reinforced by what they saw outside of the home, then naturally you could go so far as to make the assumption that the person would be skewed towards thinking that the other is a more acceptable form and if it is a woman then she has to overcome that to be able to want to BF her own child. Do you see the point I am trying to make? It's not the childhood alone that can form a person's idea's on something but their whole life experience of it.

[Tobily]

I dont think a child having a doll with a bottle influences them to ff or bf when they grow up, I think lack of support, education, continuity influences women to FF

I tend to agree with this statement.

My DD has dolls that come with bottles. The bottles are in the bottom of the toybox somewhere I haven't seen them for months. When she feeds her dolls, she gives them "boobie" or feeds them with a spoon.
Why?
Because that's all she knows from seeing me feed.
She doesn't remember having her bottles, and when she sees me feed Toby she sees him either breastfeeding or eating solids from a spoon.
It's like she doesn't even know what the bottles are for that came with her doll.

I definitely think it's more important for our kids to see us breastfeeding day in day out in terms of normalising it for them, than it is for dolls bottles to be taken away from their play.

[Rouge]

I agree Sherie, I think its important to show all aspects. I'm one of those bad mum's that lets kids play with water pistols and all things. I don't have any no no's in this house. I'm pretty easy going. And I look at Paris who has many dolls with bottles and she thinks that breastfeeding is what you do so it can't be all that bad.

*hugs*
Cailin

[Trillian]

Flea, But that reinforces the idea that children will imitate what they see occuring around them doesn't it? You don't have to take the bottles away from them - they just choose not to play with them.

[Rouge]

LOL Shannon you'd be surprised... I get lots of comments from other mums because paris is allowed to have Macca's toys, or have dessert, or play with water pistols LOL! I'm just out there I think...

*hugs*
Cailin

[BellyBelly]

This was discussed at the Inquiry how images such as this program us to associate babies with bottles, from such a young age.

My kids lift their tops to feed their toys. They don't have any bottles, this is not deliberate but they aren't much into that sort of play. I wouldn't go out and buy one though.

Cai and I reinforced that they needed to put breastfeeding ads on TV, in prime time, and brought up that an ABA ad was rated PG and not allowed to screen during those hours, they were shocked to hear that!