I just heard about this on my local news station and wanted to know everyone's ideas about this.

Apparently there is a baby doll for little girls that teaches small girls how to breastfeed a baby. It even comes with a cloth that has a flower over the place where the little girl's nipple should go.

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There are also videos on youtube of people's two year old daughters using the doll, but I feel a little sick by it and refuse to watch it. My own opinion, though.

Now, I am all for breast feeding if that is the route a mother wants to go, however I kind of feel like this is pushing it onto little girls- and much to quickly.

Your opinions?

I don't know. Breast feeding is totally natural and all, nothing to fear. It's good for teaching folks, kids that it's ok. and kids will try to pretend they are doing that anyway if they see their mothers do it.

Breast feeding is a perfectly natural function -- for mature women. Aren't we pushing maturity on little girls a bit much these days?

-- Nephele

That is what I fear about it. I would not want my 5 year old putting a doll to her breast (espeically in public!). She is just to young to be doing that.

Yes it IS a natural process and I support it- for women who want to breastfeed their kids. Not for little 2-9 year old girls who are very impressionable. Also the idea of taking the doll in public or having company over and my daughter having a doll at her breasts with little flowers that put emphasis on her nipples. It makes me shiver.

If you want to teach them breastfeeding, teach them when they are truly old enough and mature enough to learn about. Otherwise i see it as making them grow up much to quickly. It is one thing to play with dolls and have little bottles. It is another thing when you have your baby taking her shirt off to feed a baby (exaggeration, but you get the picture).

I don't get it now, and I don't think I would've gotten it as a child. When I was a little kid, I played with plastic dinosaurs.

-- Nephele

You mean you never put the dinos to your breast to feed it, Nephele? for shame!

Actually if you pay attention to how kids hold stuff they tend to do so in exactly the same way a mother would hold a nursing child.

Why?

Well that's who they see holding a baby most often. As great and all as school is for teaching people things, the best way to teach is to just do stuff in front of a person when they're too young to know what the hell they're watching.

Sometimes my dinosaurs ATE their babies.

-- Nephele

I think it's an instict girls already have, and I would also point out girls usually get presents they want and don't play with stuff they got which they didn't want. I personally don't see a problem. Maybe Italy is still very connected to tradition, but over here girls do that with any kind of doll they come across.
What I feel like adding is that it's not really a matter of choice, not for everybody at least, some women who may want to breastmilk simply can't because of health situations that could harm them or their baby.
I think as Nephele mentioned before it's one of the most natural things in the world and it shouldn't be a matter of discussion. Still, I understand that in the male oriented society we live in, something bearing the tag FEMMININE in capital letters, might be ostracized by women in career.

I've seen little girls hold their dollies that way here in the U.S., too. Toys that promote IMAGINATION get two thumbs up from me.

I just don't know about these toys they're making for little girls that have to realistically simulate every bodily function. Like that fashion doll they were selling a few years ago that, when you did something to her arms, her breasts suddenly grew out.

-- Nephele

THAT is disturbing -.-" !

Yah, I'll say. I found a video of it: Growing Up Skipper

-- Nephele

I'm going to have to side with Midieval Fantasy; There is too much pressure on girls these days. It seems like so many of these coporations are trying to make girls grow up too fast(They're making bikinis for them now. I know some girls hit puberty early. I did; but that's just bordering on child porn now). Let them be little girls until they hit puberty. It's going to be stressful enough when they hit that age and people wonder why girls tend to have much more low self esteem then boys.

eeehm... actually bikinis for girls already existed as I was a little child (beginning 1980es) and I know they did because I was ashamed of walking around without the top part, it didn't matter if my parents tried to show me the difference between me and grown up women, I still felt as a little woman I should stick to my sense of decency, plus it was important for me to feel the difference from boys and the little decorations on the lower part didn't make enough of a difference for me...

edited to add: my parents really put a lot of effort in persuading me that I had time to feel like that, but it didn't work, whereas other girls didn't get why I remained adamant about it.

This 100%... kids have enough trouble getting the chance to be kids these days as it is. Why some people feel the need to make kids grow up before their time I have no idea!