There are baby dolls that you can purchase that you really bottlefeed and that really wet their diapers. While, I see nothing wrong with allowing our children to use their imaginations and “pretend” like their dolls are drinking and eating, I also understand how utterly cool these dolls are in the eyes of little girls.
Realistic Dolls Don’t Promote Breastfeeding
I also recognize that since little girls can’t lactate, in order to use these “life like dolls” a little girl has to bottle feed her baby. I don’t really like that. Pretend play is very important in molding who our children become as adults, so I’ d like to put on record that I really, really, really wish that people wouldn’t pre-design our little girls to grow
Happy Heinys' Baby Doll Diapers photo submitted by Kristen Eggers.
up to be bottle feeders. If our daughters grow up to be bottle-feeders, they will be at a higher risk of developing breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical cancer. This may not seem like a big deal now, while they’re tiny perfect little girls. Fast forward thirty years though, when this little girl is now your best friend, your shopping buddy, and the person you talk to every day on the phone. This woman is the mother of your grandchildren. Now tell me that her risks of breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancer are not a big deal. I could go on endlessly about the reasons we should help our daughters be OK with breastfeeding, but most of us already know the benefits that your future adult daughter breastfeeding your grandchildren will deliver.
Realistic Dolls Come with Disposable Diapers
I also don’t like the idea of wasting disposable baby doll diapers. From the doll maker’s perspective, these are awesome. They promise repeat business. Not only do they win the purchase of the initial doll, they also win the purchase of hundreds of disposable diapers for these dolls. This is such irresponsible consumerism; it’s actually repulsive to me. I understand disposable diapering an actual baby. I don’t like the waste. I think that if people actually tried cloth diapers, they would find that it’s easy, fun and makes you feel good, but I do “get” disposable diapering an actual baby. There is nothing in the world that can make me understand or accept disposable diapering a doll though. This “playing” leaves our daughters with the legacy of even more pointless garbage to deal with when her generation is in authority. This “playing” wastes our resources. This “playing” encourages waste, for absolutely NO REASON. A bag or two of disposable toy diapers may not seem like a lot when it’s just your daughter creating it in the whole grand scheme of garbage. However, if they’re mass producing these toy diapers, that means that we are mass disposing of these diapers. You see? Thankfully, there are other options. For example, Happy Heinys makes reusable cloth diapers for dolls. Sure, they’re fifteen dollars for a pack of three. The thing is though, the disposable doll diapers are ten dollars for a pack of six! A pack of six diapers will last a little girl, maybe a day. Reusable cloth baby doll diapers will last your daughter a lifetime.
“It’s just playing!”
It may seem like this is all pointless. It may seem like I’m making a big deal over nothing. Playing is not just playing. Playing shapes children’s mindsets. We have the opportunity to raise conscientious, responsible adults. How we sculpt their playing as little ones matters. Even if you don’t believe this though, if you facilitate this kind of playing in your child, think of how you’re going to explain to your future adult daughter facing a waste crisis of epic proportions with her entire generation that you bought her disposable diapers for her doll. If you provide these “bottle feeding” dolls to your child, think of how you’re going to comfort your future adult daughter, when breastfeeding is more commonplace and she doesn’t find it comfortable.
What do you think? Can you justify the ridiculousness of these realistic dolls and their disposable accessories? Do you agree? I’d love to hear your opinions.
