Okay, this has been bugging me...

[KatWrangler]

What is with childrens dolls that have baby bottles with them?! I was looking at getting my daughter her first doll for Christmas but was completely turned off. Can you even buy a doll without bottles?

[Leta]

I know!! My DH's grandma got DD a sweet, soft little baby, totally age appropriate and quite cute... except for the fact that it came with one accessory (other than clothes): a teeny plastic bottle.

I had that thing in the trash with the wrapping paper lickity split. DH giggled about it, but, hey, we're a bf family.

[justplainbecky]

Oh, but what gets me even more is the potty training dolls, comes with a potty and doll.....and a bottle! HUH? So if your child is ready to potty train they still have a bottle? AT least make it a sippy cup, or a straw cup!

[angelpie545]

Argg...starting them on formula feeding while they are young. I can't help but think product placement. It's funny, when I was young I thought that babies were fed with bottles and cow milk, even though my mother had breastfed all of us. It wasn't that she said anything, it was just indoctrinated into my mind at an early age. I didn't even think about breastfeeding until I actually got pregnant.

[HannahsMomma]

My dd got a toy kitten for Christmas from Mil. It meows, purrs and kneads it's paws (like kittens do when they are nursing) except it came with a bottle ! WTF ?!? Apparently formula companies are even going after kittens !

[_betsy_]

My 3-year-old neice got a baby doll for Christmas - complete with Moses basket, indicating it's a newborn, and one bottle of milk and one of orange juice? HUH?

[Marlet]

My DD got a Dora doll from DH for Christmas. He got it since she has a sling and wears her twin siblings. He figured we could take the bottle from her hand and just not give it to her. It's ATTACHED to her hand. There is no way to get it off aside from cutting it and possibly cutting into her hand. DD loves it. You ask where her baby is and if she thinks it's hungry and she goes to get it and feeds Dora the bbottle (as opposed to the babies ). I'm guessing since she feeds Dora and not the babies (she hands those to me when I ask if they are hungry) she sees it as a sippy cup. SIGH. It is sad though. I told DH it was not formula but expressed BM.

[ColeysMama]

Originally Posted by OtherMother'n'Madre

I told DH it was not formula but expressed BM.

Of course it's EBM. Dora's mom pumped milk for her to give to the twins... silly.

[Smalls181]

My grandma had told me prior to Christmas that she had gotten DD a dolly for Christmas. I was preparing myself for a bottle issue, knowing that I would throw it away, but surprisingly, it didnt! And the diaper even looked even more cloth than sposie! I wish we would have saved the box so we could have thanked the company for that.

[Marlet]

Originally Posted by Smalls181

My grandma had told me prior to Christmas that she had gotten DD a dolly for Christmas. I was preparing myself for a bottle issue, knowing that I would throw it away, but surprisingly, it didnt! And the diaper even looked even more cloth than sposie! I wish we would have saved the box so we could have thanked the company for that.

Awesome! We are a Scarlet family too! Only one t though.



Coleys good to know! We don't watch Dora so I had no idea she really did. I assumed she did.

[Sagesgirl]

My three daughters got a total of six baby dolls for Christmas this year, and not a one of them came with a bottle. You have to look a bit, perhaps, but they are quite readily available even in the most mainstream of stores--I usually buy my girls' dollies at Wal-Mart. And they're usually among the cheaper dolls, as well. Lots to Love babies are pretty nice: cheap, realistic, & bottle-free.

I've always thought that baby dolls coming with bottles is just one more way that formula feeding as the norm is ingrained into our culture. So even when I do buy my girls dolls with bottles, I throw them away. I won't buy anything with an attached bottle, or anything that depends on it. Power to the consumer & stuff.

My girls nurse their toys. And sometimes toys nurse other toys.

[celtic_angel]

i am a big fan of the "bitty baby" dolls from the american girl company.
no bottles,good quality for a reasonable price and they wear cloth diapers!

[MommytoTwo]

yeah my dd just got a doll for CHristmas with 2 bottles. The funny part is is that she pretends to drink out of them... she had like one bottle when she was a week old and that was it. lol

[lacysmommy]

Originally Posted by justplainbecky

Oh, but what gets me even more is the potty training dolls, comes with a potty and doll.....and a bottle! HUH? So if your child is ready to potty train they still have a bottle? AT least make it a sippy cup, or a straw cup!

Hey, it could be an EC'ed baby! My 7 month old gets bottles at daycare and is EC'ed at home, so she uses both a potty and a bottle on a regular basis. I actually was looking for a doll with a potty for my DD1 but I never found one I liked.

[KatWrangler]

I will have to look some more.

[oursweetboys]

bottles aren't necessarily evil...

O.K., I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. I don't view baby dolls with bottles as "promoting formula". My DS had a doll that came with a bottle and it really didn't bother me. It rarely got used and I even have a picture of him "nursing" the same doll! It's precious-I wish I could dig it up and post it. Let's face it, there are plenty of women out there(and here on MDC) who HAVE to use bottles for various reasons. Not every mom has the ability to stay at home and exclusively breastfeed(meaning no bottle). There could very well be EBM in the doll's bottle if you choose to look at it that way. I realize that intoducing a bottle too early can interfere with the BF relationship but bottles can be used while also BF without issues. I am a SAHM and both of my boys still used bottles at times that I was out and unable to BF. There are lots of adoptive moms who have no choice.(relactation doesn't always work and isn't always an option) I don't think bottles are "evil" as what is presumed here in this thread. I realize this is the Lactivism forum, but I guess I don't see this forum as being only for those who choose to BF exclusively without using bottles. Alright, I'll get off my soapbox now.

~Leslie

[mamabearsoblessed]

I have thrown doll bottles away. Though my dc have one that they use in their kitchen area as a condiment container .

[ShaggyDaddy]

Originally Posted by _betsy_

My 3-year-old neice got a baby doll for Christmas - complete with Moses basket, indicating it's a newborn, and one bottle of milk and one of orange juice? HUH?

It's not orange juice, it is expressed colostrum.

[angelpie545]

Originally Posted by oursweetboys

O.K., I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. I don't view baby dolls with bottles as "promoting formula". My DS had a doll that came with a bottle and it really didn't bother me. It rarely got used and I even have a picture of him "nursing" the same doll! It's precious-I wish I could dig it up and post it. Let's face it, there are plenty of women out there(and here on MDC) who HAVE to use bottles for various reasons. Not every mom has the ability to stay at home and exclusively breastfeed(meaning no bottle). There could very well be EBM in the doll's bottle if you choose to look at it that way. I realize that intoducing a bottle too early can interfere with the BF relationship but bottles can be used while also BF without issues. I am a SAHM and both of my boys still used bottles at times that I was out and unable to BF. There are lots of adoptive moms who have no choice.(relactation doesn't always work and isn't always an option) I don't think bottles are "evil" as what is presumed here in this thread. I realize this is the Lactivism forum, but I guess I don't see this forum as being only for those who choose to BF exclusively without using bottles. Alright, I'll get off my soapbox now.

~Leslie

I don't think any of us are trying to say that "all bottles are evil" rather we are questioning why it is the "norm" to see bottles everywhere. We are trying to state it should be the exception to the norm. If we teach our kids from an early age that "bottles are for all babies" then that's what they will think as adutls. If we indoctrinate them with that psychology when they are young, it's hard to break away from as adults. Children who grow up without baby bottles are always around, only when needed, and seeing breastfeeding regulary, are more likey to breastfeeding. Successful breastfeeding doesn't usually require the use of bottles unless milk is to be stored or the mother must be away from the baby so she expresses her milk.

[the_lissa]

Originally Posted by oursweetboys

O.K., I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. I don't view baby dolls with bottles as "promoting formula". My DS had a doll that came with a bottle and it really didn't bother me. It rarely got used and I even have a picture of him "nursing" the same doll! It's precious-I wish I could dig it up and post it. Let's face it, there are plenty of women out there(and here on MDC) who HAVE to use bottles for various reasons. Not every mom has the ability to stay at home and exclusively breastfeed(meaning no bottle). There could very well be EBM in the doll's bottle if you choose to look at it that way. I realize that intoducing a bottle too early can interfere with the BF relationship but bottles can be used while also BF without issues. I am a SAHM and both of my boys still used bottles at times that I was out and unable to BF. There are lots of adoptive moms who have no choice.(relactation doesn't always work and isn't always an option) I don't think bottles are "evil" as what is presumed here in this thread. I realize this is the Lactivism forum, but I guess I don't see this forum as being only for those who choose to BF exclusively without using bottles. Alright, I'll get off my soapbox now.

~Leslie

No one is saying bottles are evil. The point is we live in a bottle feeding culture, and we need to change that. We need to normalize breastfeeding. Children need to grow up seeing breastfeeding as normal.

My daughter bought me a magnet for my birthday that was a mother cow with a baby cow. The mother was holding a bottle even though she had a huge milky udder. It was funny.