The new Bebe Gloton breastfeeding doll has some people up in arms although I do not quite understand all the fuss. I heard the concern expressed that young girls might play with the doll, decide they like breastfeeding (yay!) and then — here’s the inexplicable leap — suddenly decide they want to have a baby! Yet somehow we let our little girls play with dolls with baby bottles, and there’s no concern there? Does that mean that breastfeeding is sexual or that a breastfeeding doll sexualizes the young girl who plays with it? Give me a break!

I suppose I …read more

When my preschooler was three, all she wanted for Christmas was a Baby Born doll (pictured at left). Her friend had a similar Zapf Creation doll, Baby Annabell, and of course my daughter wanted one too. Baby Born comes with a potty and a plastic plate and spoon and even some pretend “food” (don’t get me started about that gooey mess!) It never occurred to me to question the fact that the doll also comes with a pacifier and a baby bottle until other nursing mothers mentioned to me (nicely) that they don’t buy their little girls dolls with bottles. …read more