A doll designed to imitate breast-feeding has sparked controversy as Spanish manufacturer Berjuan Toys last week announced plans to market the doll in the United States.
A special halter top that comes with the toy has two flowers positioned where the nipples would be, and when the doll's mouth gets close to the flowers, the sensors inside prompt the doll to start the motions and suckling sounds congruous with breast-feeding, reported ABC News in March.
The controversy is over whether the Breast Milk Baby negatively affects young girls or not.
"Critics say the doll is oversexualizing young girls or forcing them to grow up too quickly, but the company and supporters have said the toys are meant to teach young girls about the nurturing skills they'll need later in life," ABC said.
When the first breast-feeding doll was introduced in 2009, Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FoxNews.com, said he thinks the doll might expedite maternal qualities in young girls who play with it.
"Pregnancy has to entail maturity and understanding," he said "It's like introducing sex education in first grade instead of seventh or eighth grade. Or, it could inadvertently lead little girls to become traumatized. You never know the effects this could have until she's older."
The doll has been popular overseas, and Berjuan Toys is confident it will be popular in the United States because of support from breast-feeding activists, Dennis Lewis, Berjuan Toys' U.S. spokesman, told Forbes.com last week.
Lewis doesn't believe the arguments against the dolls are reasonable, telling Forbes that breast-feeding shouldn't be turned into a taboo subject when it was the usual way to feed a baby until companies began selling artificial milk. The dolls are a way to teach kids as well as adults about breast-feeding.
"The truth is that no artificial milk even comes close to providing the benefits of a mother's milk," Lewis told Forbes. "Breast-feeding helps prevent many dangerous infant diseases and lowers the risk of breast cancer for mothers later in life. … We firmly believe that attitudes about breast-feeding need to change. This is an important health issue that affects babies and mothers all over the world."
When "Good Morning America" interviewed parents about the doll, some were OK with it and some were not.
One mom said she would look at other dolls before buying the Breast Milk Baby for her daughter, but one dad said he thinks the doll would help his daughter connect with her mom and a new baby.
Doctors say parents don't need to worry that the doll will have negative effects on their children.
"I don't think it's sexualizing any more than a little boy standing next to his father shaving and putting on shaving cream," Dr. Ned Hallowell, a child psychiatrist, told ABC. "The only way harm can be done with this doll is if you beat this kid over the head with the doll."
Lewis contends that the Breast Milk Baby promotes breast-feeding because breast-feeding is wholesome and normal.
"Children learn by playing, and if they learn that the best way to feed a baby is by breast-feeding, it will be an easy, natural choice for them when they grow up," he told Forbes. "What could possibly be wrong about a child learning this from an early age?"
EMAIL: rcampbell@desnews.com