Moms Talk: Would You Buy Your Child a Breast-Feeding Doll?

Remember when we were kids and the doll that was all over the news was a quaint cherub that was born in a cabbage patch? Fast-forward from the Big 1980s to 2011 and you’ll see that a more controversial doll is making headlines: the Breast Milk Baby.

According to the New York Times’ Well blog, the doll “comes with a halter top that [children] can wear, with two flowers that symbolize breasts. As the doll’s mouth is brought to the flowers, it makes a sucking sound, as if it is drinking milk. Afterward, the doll cries until it is burped.”

The Times blog reports that the doll is already available in Europe and will soon be sold here in the United States, where it’s the topic of conversation before its passport has even been stamped. The Times also reports that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is against it, and he has company among a couple hundred people calling for a ban on the doll via Facebook. But there appears to be more people who are in favor of the doll, whose Facebook friends way outnumber the detractors.

Some proponents of the doll are rooting for her to help create a positive image of breast feeding starting at the earliest possible age. Experts quoted by the Times didn’t seem to think that the doll would have any long-term effect on children in either a positive or negative way. But many adults certainly seem to be freaked out by this toy. Many are probably the same people who would be disgusted – and wrongly so – to see a woman breastfeeding in public.

I don’t see anything wrong with children having this doll. Breastfeeding is natural. It’s what breasts were made to do. And it’s just as natural for children to want to play-act what their parents do, something I’ve noticed with my 3 ½-year-old daughter in particular. Why not a doll that will simulate breast feeding when we have all sorts of other mini-versions of grown-up stuff in toy form, including baby bottles? After all, nobody cringes when a mom – a real one or a toddler who is pretending – pulls out a bottle and pops it in her baby’s mouth in public.

And yet, I have to admit that there is something off-putting about the promotional images that accompany some of the stories I have read about the doll. While the idea of a grown woman cuddling her baby and holding it to her breast doesn’t bother me in the least, seeing a little girl doing the same with a doll is rather odd.

After thinking it through, I recognized that like many people, my first reaction was to look at the picture and do a double-take at what I was seeing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I should not come to a conclusion about this toy based on my first-blush reaction. I think the problem is that in our society, breasts are for the most part viewed as part of our sexuality first and foremost rather than as a conventional and functional way (assuming you are lucky enough to have it all work smoothly) to feed our babies. So to dismiss the doll with a blanket "No" is to cede breasts completely over to the side of sexuality.