Toddler Breastfeeds Doll, Creates Firestorm of Protest

A POSTER which shows a toddler breastfeeding her doll has sparked a row at a Greater Manchester hospital.

The home-made poster carries the slogan `It's Normal - children copy their mothers, teenagers do it! Celebrities do it!'.

It was put up in a children's ward at Rochdale Infirmary - which has won prestigious Baby Friendly status - as part of a campaign for National Breastfeeding Week.

Deborah Winter, 39, who spotted the poster when she was visiting her grandson, called it `disgusting'. She said: "The picture is shocking and it isn't normal. Children copy their parents but I don't think any little girls should be breastfeeding their dolls."

And Coun Jean Ashworth, who works as a healthcare assistant at the hospital, said: "The picture is highly offensive. We all know breast is best but they are going overboard."

The trust seems to be more interested in chasing awards for promoting breastfeeding rather than supporting new mums."

Praise

Staff at the Pennine Acute Trust have won praise for increasing the number of women who breastfeed, but have caused controversy. They were forced to scrap a plan to charge new mums for bottles of formula milk.

The trust says the hospital has received no complaints about the poster. Its infant feeding co-ordinator Val Finigan was made an MBE for her work promoting breastfeeding.

She said: "This poster is part of a larger campaign to raise awareness among children because many of them may have no knowledge of breastfeeding.

"There are a lot of myths still out there about breastfeeding and women still come into the hospital with misunderstandings about feeding."

Another mother, who did not want to be named, said: "It's no big deal. My little boy was two when his sister was born and used to pretend to breastfeed his teddy bear while I was feeding her."

SOME OF THE COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

"I can verify that it is normal for children to imitate their mothers. My grandaughter was breast feeding her doll at 15 months."

"Anyone who finds this poster offensive really needs to reconsider their feelings about infant feeding. I bet they wouldn't mind a child bottlefeeding a dolly which shows the negative opinion towards breastfeeding this country has."

"How the world is laughing at us. My wife showed me this, after it was emailed to her this morning, from Australia. "See the funny stupid people make funny stupid comments."

"Breastfeeding is how humans feed their babies. Any mother who can't do so, should receive support and counselling, and there should be no concept that We Don't Talk About It in case we upset them. Mothers who don't wish to - are perfectly free to choose otherwise: their choice.

But to try and censor a photo of a happy little girl, playing at feeding her doll? Are you all insane? To suggest that feeding a baby is sexual? That this photo is somehow designed to attract paedophiles? Truly, obscenity is in the eye of the beholder. If that's your first thought, when seeing this poster, you need some psychological help yourself.

The whole point of this poster is to point out breastfeeding is normal, and children copy their parents in normal behaviour. If you really see adult sexual behaviour, and paedophillia in it, I'd suggest you check what appalling messages you are sending your own children. They deserve a more normal view of life and their bodies, than the restricted one you are giving them.

Babies are born to breastfeed. They don't know they are being perverted for doing so... until you lot tell them so!"

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