The Breastfeeding Doll

A Spanish company has released a toy doll which breastfeeds. As you can imagine this has caused quite a stir. The doll has been accused of sexualising young girls, being obscene and inappropriate. In my opinion the doll is weird, not because it is designed to breastfeed, but because of the strange way in which the doll feeds.

The doll comes with a shirt which the child puts on in place of breasts. Where breasts would be the shirt has flowers. When the doll cries the child puts the dolls mouth to the flowers and the doll moves its mouth and makes a suckling sound in response. When finished "feeding" the doll burbs.

The great thing about this doll is that it promotes breastfeeding and it is one of the only dolls on the market that doesn't come with a toy bottle. It is a step in the right direction. But the flower nipple shirt is unnecessary and a little odd.

Any breastfeeding family can tell you that their children breastfeed toys. Boys and girls alike mimic behaviour, it's how they learn, and those who have seen breastfeeding happily breastfeed their dolls, teddies, trucks and just about anything they can get their hands on. This important role playing is one of the earliest stages of learning how to breastfeed.

Dolls that come with toy bottle feeding equipment undermine a girl's confidence in her ability to breastfeed before she is even aware that it is an issue. Through promoting bottle feeding this way, toy companies undermine breastfeeding attempts and lactivism. Toy bottles are just one example of propaganda used against the very young, normalising artificial feeding and further stigmatising breastfeeding.

This breastfeeding doll is one company's alternative to the millions of bottle fed dolls on the market. My concern is that the shirt that comes with the doll could give young girls the impression that putting on something extra (for example nipple shields or breastfeeding covers etc.) when breastfeeding is normal, when in fact all they need are themselves. This is one of the most empowering aspects of breastfeeding for women; all they need to feed they already have right there on their chests!

I also worry what messages little girls might receive from the shirt with regard to the flowers instead of nipples. I believe this could promote the idea that women's normal bodies are shameful and/or obscene and therefore should be made pretty by the addition of flowers. What remains is the misogynistic attitude that breasts and nipples should only be seen in pornography.

A suckling doll who doesn't come with a bottle is gold. Let little girls take care of the rest.

ETA: Today I discovered Heather Cushman-Dowdee has published a comic about this very issue on her blog Mama is.. She sums up my thoughts beautifully. I don't think I'm allowed to republish the comic here, so head over there and check it out:

http://www.mama-is.com/throw-the-bottle-away/