Let's Play Breastfeeding with the Breastfeeding Doll

Did Irwin Mainway make this? Of Mainway Toys? Producers of Johnny Switchblade: Adventure Punk?

Berjuan, a Spanish toymaker who, is probably I hope not a pedophile, created the Glutton Baby doll. Its Spanish and official name, Bebe Gloton, sounds way cooler and does not at all sound like a horror movie title from the 70s in the way that its English name does.

Basically the toy is some weird doll that cries until you put on this bikini top and feed the baby from two big giant daisies that are meant to represent nipples.

No, that's not messed up AT ALL.

The baby, when near the daisies, makes a sucking sound and its weird little plastic face moves. 

It is probably one of the grossest things I've ever seen, aside from that one time when I was 12 and I ran over a snake with my bike and the snake puked up two baby mice. That was only slightly grosser.

This doll is also making me hate daisies. 

The doll's supporters say that it encourages breastfeeding, all dolls come with bottles, this one nurses, and will promote breastfeeding. 

Worldwide, critics charge that the doll could possibly contribute to girls get pregnant earlier. No, that would be caused by either a lack of understanding or total apathy about one's body, and that is the responsibility of the parent. If you are scared that a doll who nurses on bikini daisies will contribute to your kid's getting pregnant then you probably aren't an awesome parent. 

Bottom line is that this doll is weird. You don't need to make some moralistic argument for or against it - a doll that sucks on the plastic daisies sewn onto a bikini top is a weird toy for young girls. I spent over 24 months nursing two kids and I'm a staunch supporter of breastfeeding and still this doll creeps me out. 

It's comical that the nipples are re-imagined as daisies; it's an act that transcends what these little girls are dealing with in terms of their own understanding of female anatomy by graphically using it in play. Let's further disassociate themselves from their own femininity by recasting their nipples as flowers! 

(While we're at it, let's get rid of the Miley stripper-pole, the Bratz Dolls, and their clothing.)

So! Would you let your daughter play with it? Would you ever buy it as a gift for another child?

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Comments

[Michelle]

I think I may be TOTALLY ALONE on this but I really don't find it all that creepy. I don't see it as any different from baby dolls that come with bottles or that pee their diapers. The little halter with the daisies is better than if it called for actually strapping some realistic bazoombas onto their little chests. The doll itself is not even the creepiest one I've seen, either.

That being said? I would never buy this for someone else's child because so many people ARE freaked out or offended by it.

[Natalie]

Michelle I am with you. I actually had this item forwarded to me by a couple friends who (are not parents and) were totally freaked out by it. I would much rather have my little girl play with this baby doll than a baby doll that looks like a 47 year old hooker (bratz I'm looking at you). One of the arguments by groups against it is it is sexualizing little girls...I don't know about you but breastfeeding was not sexual for me and did not make me feel the sexiness.

Plus if it is anything like all our other baby dolls the accsessories will get lost to the great toy box in the sky..err umm closet.

But while I would buy it for my daughter I wouldn't give it to anyone elses kid, just like i would also refrain from giving them a bratz...somethings are not for everybody

[Kristine]

Haha, okay, I didn't realize there were daisies involved. I suppose they had to come up with, uh, something? But I also am not creeped by it at all. As adults, we put more meaning into it than a young child possibly could. It's just knowledge, learning to them...that's not so creepy.

That said, I can understand how some could be creeped.

[chatty cricket]

No. It's Weird. The End.

[Diane]

I seriously thought this article was satire. I kept waiting for the punchline.

I think it is FANTASTIC that there is a breastfeeding doll on the market. There are tons of baby dolls that suckle when a bottle is brought to their mouth. While this may not be the best execution of the idea, I'm not sure how else the suckling could be activated. (I'd prefer a plain smock, though. Daisies just plain don't make sense.)

I felt the allusion to pedophilia was unwarranted. It sexualizes something that needn't be sexualized.

The only grossness I see is the rampant commercialism; any doll can be a breastfeeding doll.

[KatieC]

Yes! Excellent points!

There is also the fact that most young children who watch their mom or aunt nurse, will 'nurse' their dolls. Myself and my sisters all did, my niece 'nursed' her doll after watching me nurse my daughter. It's natural for them to be interested in what we're doing.

If I happened to get pregnant again in the near future, I probably would buy this doll for the Bun. I don't see a problem with it all. As it's been said, there are peeing and bottle drinking dolls.

It's the people who sexualize breastfeeding that cry out about sexualizing little girls. Toddlers are not sexual beings at all, if this toy came off that way, I'd have a problem. But breastfeeding isn't sexual, so I say it's fine, not creepy.

[mouthy_broad (michele)]

disclaimer: i don't have kids.

i think this doll is creepy. (and i think we have discussed at length many times on this site how inappropriate bratz are, so i think that is not in this discussion.) i would not buy a peeing doll, a drinking doll or this doll for my own potential kids or other peoples' (esp not other peoples'!). my childhood is too many years ago now but by golly--i never wanted such things and i never wanted to imitate breastfeeding.

what happened to normal looking dolls in normal outfits and a child's imagination? if the child would like to imagine themselves breastfeeding and then act that out--so what. why do we decide what the doll does?

it all just seems so unnecessary.

[Rhonda]

You summed up my opinion perfectly!

[Heather]

I completely agree with you, Dana.

And why on earth is it important to promote breastfeeding to little kids? Seems like perhaps it's more important to the parents that their child's doll make a socially popular statement. Like if the little doll got all excited about locally grown organic vegetables.

[Katie Kat]

I can't believe anyone would NOT think this was completely creepy. Seriously? You want your children to go around pretending to BREASTFEED a doll? I'm no prude and I have nothing against breastfeeding, but why is it we can't just let little girls be LITTLE GIRLS? God - we just push too much adult, semi-sexual and full blown inappropriately sexual content on them already. What's next? A doll you can simulate sex with? It's just wrong.

[Kyla]

Yes, it is WEIRD.

[cindy w]

I tend to think all baby dolls are mildly creepy. And I'm incredibly grateful for the fact that so far, my daughter is way more interested in stuffed animals than baby dolls.

That said, yeah. It's weird. Like you said, Dana, no big moral argument about it. It's just bizarre.

[Heidi]

I love it. I think it is great and helps promote breastfeeding. I hate that most kids think babies get fed with bottles. I would get it for my son and daughter in a second.

[Jessi]

I am a mother, and I concur. I wouldn't buy this doll for my daughter, but she also doesn't have one that pees in a potty or one that drinks from a bottle. She and her sister were bottle fed so that is what she knows and she has some play bottles to feed her babies with, but there is no suckling involved. Just a kid putting a bottle to a dolly's mouth and pretending she is drinking. I don't know why we feel like dolls should do everything that real babies do.

Toys do too much to stifle imagination nowadays. Kids should decide what dolls do and where cars go and what the blocks build.

[Diane]

Yes, because simulating breastfeeding is just one step away from simulating sex.

[Hey You]

Little kids DO simulate breastfeeding, I have seen many little girls of my buddies who BF do it, and even (gasp) my own son has held a baby to his chest and said it needed to "nur-nur" (full disclosure, I am in the process of becoming a LLL leader, so we see LOTS of nursing Mama's)

The name is awful, the daises are kinda strange, but not disturbing, the concept of teaching little girls that you should nurse instead of bottle feed is awesome.

[Alyssa]

Totally un-related to this post: Dana, I JUST realized you are the same Dana from the "momversations" which I have been watching basically since their inception. I think you changed your profile pic? The other one looked weirdly not like you at all. My mind is blown to have finally made the connection. Now that I know you are a mama-popper I am double impressed.

[Lori]

Kids already pretend to breastfeed dolls .... just like they pretend to bottlefeed dolls.

[Poshie]

I agree with you completely. Children need to be free to do what they want with their dollies. Let the kids use their imaginations and copy what their own mommy does.

[mommymae]

my kids do just fine sticking their dolls up their shirts, sans daisies, thankyouverymuch.

the vest is totally wack.

[JellyBean]

This doll, is totally creepy. Daisies, really? Makes me think of Janet Jackson's nipple covers. Why do we have to "teach" or "model" breastfeeding to little girls thru dolls anyway since it is natural function of the female body? We don't make dolls that pee/poop to teach other bodily functions. Oh wait, nevermind.

[Irma]

My son was breastfed, and he knows it, I never made a big deal about where his food came from for the first year of his life and neither has he. (He's thirteen). If I had had other children, he would have seen me nurse those kids as well, not a big deal. It's the only reason we HAVE breasts for heaven's sake.

All this to say is that my objection to this doll is not because it explores a normal way to feed a baby, but that it seems to make breastfeeding out to be a Big Deal, something forgeign and unusual. That is NOT the message I want my son (or your daughters) to have.

[Sourire11]

Um... there is nothing remotely sexual or sexy or any of that involved with breastfeeding. Not even close.

[funda62]

I totally agree Diane. I breastfed my girls and always try to point out moms who are breastfeeding but it can be difficult in America where breasts and breastfeeding are still so taboo. The only way for our children to feel comfortable with breastfeeding is make it normal.

Why would any doll encourage girls to get pregnant sooner? I really don't that argument and why would it matter if it was a breastfeeding or bottle feeding doll in that context.

Also agree though that any doll can be breastfeed and I sometimes hold my girls' dolls to my own chest and pretend to nurse them as I cuddle them while I tell the girls, "This is how I fed you when you were a baby."

[The Queen of Hyperbole]

Come on, people, this doll is funny. Funny! Not because breastfeeding or breasts are funny, but because it makes weird sounds and comes with a bra. I just showed this video to my kids, and we had a good laugh, from start to finish. Breastfeeding, I know, is a sensitive topic, but let's not let our feelings about how best to nourish our children get in the way of the funny!