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A new breastfeeding doll manufactured by a Spanish toymaker is causing a bit of controversy. The doll is designed for little girls to pretend they are breastfeeding their "baby." It even comes with special halters the little girls wear to open a flap and feed the dolls.
The doll is called Bebe Gloton. In English this means "gluttonous baby." She cries when she is hungry and makes sucking noises as she feeds.
The criticism against the doll maker is that although breastfeeding is promoted for mothers, many parents are saying that having a little girl pretend to breastfeed a doll may lead to early pregnancy. I say that is absurd. I may not choose to buy this doll for my daughter, but it is definitely not because it promotes early pregnancy. Little girls around the world have been playing mommy for hundreds of years and no one has found anything wrong with it. If we think about it, we sell dolls that we feed with a bottle. Whether it is with a breast or not, feeding is feeding.
I may only buy this product for my daughter if I knew she would only breastfeed her doll at home. Not that I find anything wrong with breastfeeding in public, but I am not risking my daughter being preyed on by a psycho who sees a child pretending to breast feed a doll and gets off from it. Unfortunately, society sees the breast as a sexual object and forgets that it is intended to nourish children.
As far as girls being mature enough to understand, I think that really depends on whether the girls come from a breastfeeding home or not. If a child has never seen mommy breastfeed, then this doll may not be appropriate unless they have the capability to understand what it is and why breastfeeding is a good thing.
Either way, the doll has not been made available in the U.S.
What are your thoughts? Would you get this doll? Why or why not?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,537261,00.html?test=latestnews
Add a Comment5 Comments
I would not buy this for my child. If you watch some teenagers, they walk around with dolls and binkies in their mouth. They think that raising kids is as easy as the dolls that they play with or used to play with. Alot of teens are trying to get pregnant because they think it is that easy. This doll makes it fun to have kids.....no stress...... Also, what if the child grows up with their doll , breast feeding, and then for some reason can't breastfeed when they have kids. They would think there is something wrong with them.
August 18, 2009 - 1:44pmAnother thing, girls grow up playing with dolls and are taught that this is what life is about. They play the part a girl does.....What would happen to them if they can't have kids in the future when everyone expected them to be mom....playing the part since a baby. It is hard to handle
This Comment
I think it's a shame that charges were pressed against the Dallas couple and even more that the children were taken away.Our country doesn't recognixe breasts for anything other than a sex object and sadly, it appears that we are not culturally educated either. That couple was from Lima, Peru-- where breastfeeding is the norm and it is not uncommon to see a 1 year old still on the breast, or a mother that wants keepsakes of her child breastfeeding. Thank you for posting that Anon.
August 7, 2009 - 5:36amThis Comment
Are you kidding me??? What's next - show little girls how to "give birth" to their "babies?" Or how about a C-section! Come on people reality is one thing - playing pretend is another.
August 6, 2009 - 8:22pmThis Comment
No, I wont be buying the doll. If children want to role play and imitate mum breast feeding, then they will (or wont!). Let them use their imagination and explore rather than giving them a doll with a use of breast feeding. I dont think the doll will do any harm, but why not just a cheaper regular doll and let the children explore and role play for themselves.
As for the comment by anonymous about the breast feeding shot - that sounds crazy! Do you have a link to the story on that?
August 6, 2009 - 8:08pmThis Comment
I saw this yesterday and felt the need to post it here in response to this.
Woman charged with possession of child pornography for Taking photos of herself breastfeeding!
August 6, 2009 - 6:36pmWith nothing else to support their contention that the photos were related to sex or sexual gratification, the police and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office presented the photos to a grand jury in January and came away with indictments against Mercado and Fernandez for "sexual performance of a child," a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The charges centered on a single photo, the breast-feeding shot. Fernandez and Mercado say they took it--although the child had ceased breast-feeding--to memorialize that stage of their baby's development"
CPS TOOK THE CHILDREN.
They ripped out my heart," Mercado says. "Even if we get them back, I don't know how we'll recover from what's been done."
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