Breastfeeding Kids Scare Prudes
Posted by JeanneSager at 4:00 PM on May 22, 2009
OK, let me break it down for you folks, because apparently there are still some folks out there who don’t get it.
Breastfeeding is not a sexual act.
So if toddlers are doing it to their dolls, do we REALLY give two hoots (or hooters?). A group of Brits with their granny panties in a bunch apparently do.
Staff at a hospital in Manchester, England hung a poster that shows a little girl “breastfeeding” her doll. It’s something I know a lot of mums say their kids have done. Because, well, they saw a Mum (maybe theirs, maybe someone else’s) doing it and they want to be just like her. That, they’ve decided is part of mothering their “baby” doll. It’s actually pretty sweet if you think about it.
The staff were trying to make that point exactly – kids copy what they see, so why not give them a positive example? Except a grandmother visiting her grandson called the papers to complain because, she says, “The picture is shocking and it isn’t normal. Children copy theirparents but I don’t think any little girls should be breastfeeding their dolls.”
Why is it shocking? Because a little kid is playing mummy? Excuse me, should we send that message out to the hundreds of dolls marketed for giving kids ability to pretend to be “just like mum?” How about the toy strollers and little Mummy and Me outfits?
Of course, if she was holding a bottle to the baby’s mouth, we can only assume Gram would be just fine with this picture, and everything would be right with the world. Er, OK, why? Because it didn’t involve a boobie? Bingo! Because we’re just parading back to the fact that breasts are not to be used for such nonsense as what nature intended.
What really bugs me about this story, however, isn’t Gram. She might just be written off as old-fashioned and set in her ways (although at thirty-nine… ). But the healthcare worker quoted in the article calling the photo “offensive,” is of even greater concern here. Because if someone working IN a hospital setting is freaked out by this picture, it’s no wonder moms are still getting poor breastfeeding starts at many hospitals.
So let’s get back to the beginning. Breastfeeding does not equal sex. Three-year-old pretending to feed their dolly breastmilk does not equal kinky perversion. Now, want to go tell your son or daughter they’re doing something freaky? Didn’t think so.
Image:Manchester Evening News
Great article – well written and gets straight to the point – just wish our (UK) papers would be as supportive! Boobies are for babies, and its time people knew this. Thanks for your great take on this ridiculous story!
Excellent article, and I’m relieved to see it. When I first read about this, I was stunned. To think that anyone could find that poster offensive is incredible. The people who say the child’s actions are not normal are themselves far from normal . . . one hopes! What’s truly offensive in all this is the sick attitude of anyone who would look at that image and see more than what’s there. Whatever you’re seeing is in you, not in the child. Whatever filth you imagine is what you brought with you. The rest of us just see a sweet child. What’s wrong with you?
I’m a lactation consultant in England, and was glad to see your welcome comments on this daft story. But I was sorry to see who sponsors Babble. Family choices in infant feeding are undermined by formula promotion. If Nutricia is really ‘caring for babies’, its parent company Numico would abide by the World Health Organisation’s Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. I hope Babble will check out Numico’s profile at the website of the International Babyfood Action Network, and consider its position.
Alison Blenkinsop, author of Fit to Bust, a comic treasure chest
I do agree with Alison. I was a little unnerved seeing ads for Nutricia on your website. I do not wish to judge mothers who formula feed but if we want to promote breastfeeding we have to more carefully hide anything to do with artificial feeding.