I just can’t get over the “outrage” surrounding this doll. Can no one in the media see the hypocrisy of being “offended” by a babydoll that allows little girls to breastfeed, just like mommy does? Little girls and boys mimic mom with teddy bears and other stuffed animals, as well as dolls. So a toy company took advantage of a corner of the market. What’s wrong with that?

According to this commentary on toys, everything. The author concludes by saying his daughter would not be allowed a breastfeeding doll because, unlike a toy cell phone, no one at preschool will give him a curious phone call if his daughter shows off her new toy. (And I won’t even address the fact that this is being written by someone who could never actually experience breastfeeding in his life.)

Isn’t that exactly the point? You shouldn’t be getting a phone call about a little girl nursing her doll (or stuffed animal or teddy bear) at all! It is normal behavior that all children should be used to, and not cause convulsions for adults with sticks up their behinds.

I think the breastfeeding doll is wonderful, because it exists as an alternative to the pervasive bottlefeeding propaganda in our culture. My own daughter, who breastfed beyond the age of 2, still believes that bottlefeeding is how all babies are fed. Toys that apparently have nothing to do with babies and feeding, still contain images of bottles and associate them with happy babies. I have done my best to to avoid the bottles-are-for-babies standard in our culture, and yet my little girl still believes that as fact. She knows she was nursed at my breast, but the generalized “babies” are always fed by bottles.