Learning Moment? Doll Demonstrates Breastfeeding

Regardless of California laws that allow mothers to breast-feed in public, it continues to be a touchy subject for all adults. Now, there’s a new doll on the market that is pushing the breast-feeding issue back into the limelight.

Spanish company Berjuan Toys is now selling its “Breast Milk Baby” online to American customers.

The Parent Dish website reports morning talk shows and parents are shocked by the new toy made for 7-year-old girls or boys.

“For $99, kids get a very hungry doll and an apron-like top with painted flowers in lieu of nipples,” reports Parent Dish.

Dennis Lewis, the U.S. spokesman for Berjuan Toys, responded to American criticism over the doll, claiming that the idea of breast-feeding being shameful and taboo was a concept created by other companies to sell more baby formula.

“We’re being called perverts and pedophiles for promoting feeding our babies the way God intended?” Lewis said in a news release. “Churches all over the world are filled with images of Mary nursing baby Jesus, and yet we can’t imagine letting our daughters learn how important breast-feeding is for our society?”

We had our Patch Moms Council from the Tri-Cities area take a closer look at this topic. Here's what they had to say about a baby doll that teaches kids how to breast-feed.

, Union City, mom of three sons - This is a very interesting concept. Although I am a very modest person, I nursed each of my three boys for their first year, and it is really something the average person doesn't understand until you've had to do it yourself. I often felt so embarrassed when I had to be out in public and the baby got hungry. It is very strange that this society will condone their 7-year-old girls running around half-naked in , but to see a mom feeding her baby is taboo. I know that in Europe and in other parts of the world, breast-feeding is seen as a natural part of life. That being said, I know that if I had a little girl and she was nursing her dolly in public, she would get stares just as I did nursing for real. Our society is not ready for it yet.

Jennifer Hill, Editor of Fremont Macaroni Kid, mom of four (2 teens and 2 toddlers): As a child care provider, I have had many toddlers and pre-schoolers pretend to nurse their baby dolls. This is what they are seeing at home (for themselves or a new sibling) and it is not a bad thing. But do we really need to wear a bra with "falsies" on it to mimic nursing a child? Just one more thing to spend money on. A child is going to mimic what he or she sees, so it's only natural if they see breast-feeding, they will mimic it in their play.