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Where better than to introduce to the U.S. market the Breast Milk Baby doll than Las Vegas? I wonder if what happens in Vegas will stay there, when the doll is delivered at a trade show.
I am a mother who exclusively breastfed her babies. The only time they ever had formula was when they were newborns suffering from jaundice and my milk had not yet come in. But that was for less than two days. Suffice it to say, I’m a breast milk enthusiast and I’ve got the brainy and healthy kids to prove it. I’m also pretty certain a lot of my own brain cells exited my body through my boobs. But THAT’S a completely different blog entry.
The Breast Milk Baby doll, a product of Berjuan Toys in Spain, comes equipped with a little halter top with two little rubber flowers on it where the nipples would be. While wearing the halter top the child, either a boy or a girl, can hold the baby to a flower where it latches on, makes sucking sounds, and, when done, cries until it’s burped. I wonder if the kids can remember which boob flower was used last. I could never remember. Do you want to know how I figured it out? Yet again, another blog entry.
My daughters are beyond caring for baby dolls. When Sophie got her Bitty Baby from a big girl in the neighborhood, I tried to decline it because I thought the teenager might regret not having her when she grew up. But the Mom convinced me her daughters were beyond baby dolls. Naturally, we got one for Charlotte, too.
American Girl Bitty Baby dolls are very lifelike. In fact, Â you can order a doll to match the skin, hair and eye color of your own child. And American Girl dolls are available in the various stages of a girl’s life. So when she’s five or six, it’s possible she can have a doll that looks, and DRESSES, just like her!
Fortunately for me, my daughters discovered Legos. I am not a huge fan of dolls. When ever anyone gave my daughters Barbies, they were naked and forgotten in less than a week. Cue the sad “Toy Story” music. LOL.
Each of our Bitty Babies had names. Sophie named hers Aker (yes, rhymes with acre); and Charlotte named hers Rikki. Aker and Rikki had baby furniture, collapsible strollers, fake food, and lots of clothing. Most of the time they were naked, their soft rubber limbs and head sewn onto a pillow-like cloth body. Play time was a lot of pretending and the little mothers took their babies all over the world within the confines of their playroom. And every once in a while, they’d hold their babies to their breasts because that’s what they knew. They did have the baby bottles, and they used them sometimes, but there is a distinct and loving cuddle factor that comes with breastfeeding. I know where they figured that out.
I’m neither here nor there on the Breast Milk Baby. I think breast is best, and I think women who don’t even try deny themselves a very gratifying experience. I think it’s great that the doll promotes a healthy alternative to chemical-laden formula. I remember when I left the hospital with my girls, I was given a beautiful cooler bag with a can of formula powder, a mixing container, and lots of coupons. Never used any of it.
Breastfeeding is natural, cheap, and highly beneficial to the baby and the mother. It provides nutrition for the body and nutrition for the soul. Anything that nudges this practice into the mainstream works for me.
Lavagal 