TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
breastmilk-baby2.jpg
The Breastmilk Baby is attracting more attention than most toys. (Image courtesy Breastmilk Baby)

Too real for the toy chest?

BY Dave Ross  on November 9, 2012 @ 8:34 am (Updated: 9:09 am - 11/9/12 )

The ads have started; Christmas is just around the corner and one new one toy in particular seems to have attracted special attention.

This is an ordinary looking doll that makes the sounds, but what's different is that it comes with a special halter top that a little girl can put on, to provide the other half of the nutritional transaction.

It's called The Breast Milk Baby: no actual milk, just a sound effect. It's a big success in Europe, not selling very well here. The folks on the O'Reilly Factor were certainly having none of it:

"I think it forces girls to grow up to quickly and I think that it glamorizes the notion of having a baby," said one commentator.

There's something about breast feeding that just creeps out Americans. Remember the TIME cover of the mom breastfeeding her 4-year-old? And the whole issue of attachment parenting:

"Breastfeeding is the ideal nutrition. To me its the empowering feminist act," said Mayim Bialik, Blossom, or Amy on Big Bang Theory.

That's what I think is the real fear. Not just that girls will grow up too fast, but they'll grow too fast into breastfeeding militants.

I realize evolution designed the female breast to sell video games and Sports Illustrated. But the company that makes Breast Milk Baby says it's just trying to teach nurturing skills. Maybe even provide a little dose of reality. Although in this version of reality, breasts are actually little plastic blossoms.

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Listen: Dori Monson spoke with the toy manufacturer last April

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (10)


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  • Lonestar wrote...
    And yet
    November 9, 2012 8:09 am
    If breasts are natural and healthy why are there ordinances against locating topless bars next to schools?
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Uh, Dave ????? ............ Ther are a whole lot of things big girls do that little gitls don't.
    November 9, 2012 8:15 am
    Little girls do play with baby dolls. And little girls do have baby sisters and brothers. ... But I don't thing the idea of nursing a baby sister instead of providing a bottle something most (if any) little girls think up on their own. .. even WHILE developing their nurturing skills ............. Does someone have an agenda here?

    Hey, Dave. Little girls have tea parties to learn socializing. ... Should we next have this toy company offer cocktail glasses for little girls ? ... So they can learn big girl socializing ?

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  • mnpat wrote...
    I'm waiting for the Hasbro "Big Girl Like Real Pole"
    November 9, 2012 9:46 am
    For the big girl in every little girl's dream to be a pole dancer....comes with large amounts of $1 and $5 play money for authenticity so the whole family can join in on the fun and experience.
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  • maplefish wrote...
    Mnpat
    November 9, 2012 11:26 am
    OK that made me laugh...Thanks!!!
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Hmmm, from the perspective of a guy who tries to make a conscious effort to be tolerant...
    November 9, 2012 10:23 am
    I'm not so crazy about the idea. If my daughter were five, instead of 35, I wouldn't choose this as one of her Christmas gifts.

    It isn't that any natural functions of the human body are particularly evil, deranged, or wicked. As Children of God, we share in common one of two basic physical models. We can corrupt our natural bodily functions to evil purpose, but that's a different topic.

    Certain natural functions of the human body are not natural functions for pre- adolescents. People historically learn about these functions on a need-to-know basis, or ideally, just *before* a genuine need to know.

    What's next for the Xmas stockings of five and six year old girls? Make believe feminine hygiene products?

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  • maplefish wrote...
    Chuck
    November 9, 2012 11:25 am
    Brilliant! :)
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    If you wouldn't encourage your son to play with it....how can it not be
    November 9, 2012 10:25 am
    "sexist"?

    And there are enough sexist toys already.

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  • JustAnotherFish wrote...
    "Glamorizes the notion of having a baby"
    November 9, 2012 12:15 pm
    Really??? More so than any other baby doll? Isn't that the whole point?

    I can only guess, but I assume that one had to be from a male commentator... Probably conservative, too. You know, one of those types that's only OK with glamorizing birth when it's conceived from rape.

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  • albertinamel wrote...
    No big deal
    November 10, 2012 6:05 am
    I think the main thing that makes people uncomfortable w/this doll is that breastfeeding was out of vogue in the US for over 50 years, so lots of people aren't used to seeing the breast used for its intended function. All my "mommy friends" and I have, at some time or another, spotted our little girls pretending to nurse their baby dolls. They're just imitating what they see their mommies do w/their younger siblings when they're hungry. All this doll does is add a sucking sound. I don't see how it's really all that different from the doll I had as a kid that sucked when you pulled the string and put a bottle in its mouth, except that breastfeeding is more natural. Anyone who has a problem with this doll simply isn't comfortable with what it means to be a mammal, in my opinion.
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  • Normal Human wrote...
    Going Backwards to "Biology Is Destiny"??????
    November 12, 2012 7:11 am
    Uh, folks, biology is not destiny! This doll is represents a giant step backwards! Girl toys can't seem to escape the baby dolls for future mommies rut. This is the 21st century! Girl toys need to give little girls options to explore other life paths other than mommyhood! A "booby doll" is just a step backwards. I have no problems with moms breastfeeding their infants, it's good for the little ones, but to make a "booby doll" for little girls is going too far!
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