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."
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local_lass, Burnage (20/05/2009 at 10:29)
I sometimes think the breast is best message is a bit over the top but I think this poster is fantastic.
Ace Shakespeare , manchester (20/05/2009 at 11:05)
Tezza, Tyldesley (20/05/2009 at 11:06)
Jay B, oldham (20/05/2009 at 11:11)
breastfeeding is one of the best possible ways to give young children the key nutrients they need when they are growing up.
but still alot of people are put off by this.
by getting it into peoples heads it promotes this and helps us bring up healthier future children!
The Very Cheeky Monkey, in the trees (20/05/2009 at 11:20)
Oh Deborah, Deborah, Deborah - you sound an old woman before your time. Mind you, as a grandmother at 39, you haven't let much grass grow beneath your feet.
I think you need to look around you and have a re-assessment of what is really 'disgusting'.
I find fascists who want to dictate what I can see and hear disgusting.
Steve (20/05/2009 at 11:45)
Jodie (20/05/2009 at 12:08)
Joe Mercer's Ghost, Ramsbottom (20/05/2009 at 12:17)
Mum2be, Manchester (20/05/2009 at 12:20)
lebist, Blackley (20/05/2009 at 12:27)
CorneredAllTheLuck, Tameside (20/05/2009 at 12:39)
Michele Hart (20/05/2009 at 13:12)
I suppose there will be those out there who think I was wrong to buy my 2 year old a buggy and a doll when I was pregnant with my second child - to allow HIM to get used the the idea of playing with and having a 'baby' to care for. Imagine letting a little boy play with dolls - I must be sick! Incidently he's 10 in 2 weeks time and a total footie and sports fanatic and couldn't be more of a 'boy' - take from that what you will but please, can the idiots who still consider breastfeeding as something sexual or disgusting wake up and recognise that without the wonders of women and their breast milk the human race in the majority of the world would simply die out.
Still - thanks for being so ignorant Deborah - as Steve quite rightly points out you have managed to promote breastfeeding and raise the debate as a result of your complaints. I wonder if your grandson will be lucky enough to be reared on nature's finest?!
CorneredAllTheLuck, Tameside (20/05/2009 at 13:25)
Jodie (20/05/2009 at 14:00)
scaryfairy (20/05/2009 at 14:06)
CorneredAllTheLuck, Tameside (20/05/2009 at 14:53)
local_lass, Burnage (20/05/2009 at 15:20)
Children copy their parents - my little girl puts her dolly in the bath, feeds her witha bottle, changes her nappy, she also pretends to cook and carry a handbag round.
What is DISGUSTING is that people find a photograph of a child PRETENDING to breastfeed offensive while apparently 63% of teenage girls would rather be topless models than a doctor or nurse.
That is the real sexualisation of children - teaching them that in order to be important you have to use your body to please men, rather than to nurture a baby. An inocent child would not have an issue with watching or pretending to breastfeed. Only a child more aware of sex than of child rearing would be uncomfortable with it.
Frostee, Oldham (20/05/2009 at 15:33)
Obviously a generation thing, but in my day boys played with cap-guns and chemistry sets making explosives etc. Any boy found playing with a doll would have been considered... well, you know!
Regarding this poster, I find it remarkable that breast-feeding, a most natural and pleasing function for both mother and child, is considered by some sanctimonious half-wits to be somewhat disgusting.
I wonder how many of these 'tut, tut' complainers are the same ones that wouldn't think twice about allowing their little girls to dress in provocative chic clothing complete with make-up, which seems to be the trendy thing to do these days! I think these people would be better addressing their complaints about the many magazines with unconcealed sex agendas aimed at very young girls. It's been reported that girls as young as 8 yrs old are now worrying about their figure etc. What a truly weird world!
june babe, manchester (20/05/2009 at 15:39)
The Allseeing Crystalchild (20/05/2009 at 16:03)
Esso Blue, Manchester. (20/05/2009 at 16:14)
CommonSense, Manchester (20/05/2009 at 16:24)
However, the larger print that stands out refers breastfeeding as "it" which seems to create a bit of a tackiness about breastfeeding - like it is a new craze or something.
Nevertheless, does it matter? How many two year olds can actually read the poster? And as for the picture, surely any young chld will interpret it as someone hugging their doll. Any child who is loved and nutured as a child wouldn't find anything sexual about this.
I don't think there is anything wrong with explaining to a child about breastfeeding. Children are curious. My daughter is always asking why she doesn't have a chest like mummy does. I tell her that one day she will when she grows older and not to worry! I leave it at that as there are issues and situations that are best left until the child is older.
If a child is compelled to hold a doll to her chest and pretend to feed, then fine. If she/he wants to pretend to feed a doll with a bottle, that's okay, too. It is just pretend.
The poster seems to be attempting to make a mother/daughter connection to say that breastfeeding is natural and is something that has gone on for generations. Perhaps the way it was designed could have been more sensitive to the subject.
My feelings on breastfeeding? If you can do it, fine, that's great. If you can't, that doesn't make you a bad mother, either. I know quite a few mums who couldn't breastfeed and they felt horrible about it thanks to all of the literature and pressure to breastfeed that is out there.
I was in the same situation and had to formula feed my daughter - though to be honest that didn't bother me one bit. Needless to say, she is a very happy, healthy and thriving little girl.
Jay B, oldham (20/05/2009 at 17:07)
although many a time mine never stayed in one piece! probably due to the explosives out of my chemistry set!
boys will be boys!
sallyg, Lancs (20/05/2009 at 17:21)
Why is it OK for children to bottle feed dolls, but not to breastfeed them? Surely it makes perfect sense that, if a child sees mummy breastfeeding, that is the way she will play at feeding her doll too?
I personally think the poster campaign is very clever indeed.
Ace Shakespeare , manchester (20/05/2009 at 17:38)
No its not its children being shown how adults do things.This is why children grow up to quickly,what is net children pretending to have sex to show them how adults have sex.Let children grow up before we start to poison their minds with adult business.