Somebody hide my credit cards.

Oh, these are cute.  I just found these felted nursing dolls on etsy.com, thanks to another blog.  My only hesitation is that they look exactly like something my cat would love to attack.  That and I've spent my budget for breastfeeding ephemera through 2012. 

Baby Milk Action sells nursing dolls for a great cause, and there are Waldorf nursing dolls, too.  But these nursing moms and mermaids are my favorite.  Etsy.com also has some very funny breast earrings by another artist.

Looking at all of these dolls makes me think how unheard of it would be to find a doll with any reference to breastfeeding in, say, a Walmart.  Most dolls come with bottles and pacifiers, right?  And don't even think about suggesting that babies are a result of (gasp) pregnancy.  Remember what happened to the pregnant Barbie, Midge?  In cultures where breastfeeding is the norm you find lots of nursing mother/baby dolls.

Earlier this month we were in the Atlanta airport on our way back from California, and I saw a family of five eating at the food court.  There was one daughter, maybe 6 or 7 years old, who had a doll.  The daughter went up to her mother and tried to put the doll in a nursing position.  The mother, looking annoyed and embarrassed, grabbed the doll and stuck a little bottle in its mouth.  I thought about this a lot afterwards.  Does this mean that we can't even pretend to nurse in public?

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