Breast Milk Baby Doll

There are dolls that wet, dolls that cry, dolls you feed with a spoon and then ask for more. There are dolls that giggle and dolls and babble, even dolls that try to walk.

They come in every size — premie, average, and big. You can get twins and singletons, all ranges of colors and nationalities.

And now, you can get a doll designed to be breastfed.

Not yet available in stores — at least not in Fairmont — the Breast Milk Baby is designed, according to its manufacturer to "let young girls express their love and affection in the most natural way possible, just like mommy!"

It comes with a halter top for the girl (yes, this is a toy for little girls. PC or not, men don't produce milk). When the doll is brought to the flower appliques near the girl's nipples, it makes suckling noises. When it is done "feeding" it can be burped.

This is a toy you either have to love or hate.

I am an advocate for breastfeeding. I don't think it is shameful, or, like my grandma said, should only be done in private. Women should be allowed to feed their children, discretely, wherever the baby needs to eat.

But this doll weirds me out, to use a colloquialism.

The good folks who created this doll think without a baby like this, girls won't understand that their bodies are not just for someone else's pleasure. I disagree.

Every child I know who has seen a mother breastfeeding, has picked up a doll or stuffed animal and tried it his or herself. It is normal, it is okay.

It isn't any different from boys and girls shoving dolls or balloons up their shirts and pretending to be pregnant. I don't see a market for a doll that comes will a special apron that holds it up to a child's abdomen.

I really do appreciate the goals of the company that made this doll. And for those parents who really want to buy it (for $89), it isn't going to hurt anything.

Breastfeeding advocates - the ones most likely to buy this doll - are not likely in danger of having children who don't understand what roll breasts play in the feeding of children. Those who find the process distasteful aren't going to buy it.

I want to see women feeding their babies by their breast given the same treatment as those feeding with a bottle. That seems like a more effective way to let little girls know about breastfeeding.