A Mom Made a Breastfeeding Barbie to Teach Kids About Parenting

Mom and talented artist Betty Strachan, who creates custom dolls by painting new faces on Barbies, decided to make a breastfeeding doll. She calls it the “Mamas Worldwide Barbie.”

“The decision to make a breastfeeding doll didn’t come consciously,” Strachan told the Huffington Post. “I’m a member of a mothers’ group that’s comprised of very lovely and supportive women. I remember one day, I was drawing the new face on a Barbie doll, and she just seemed to be the embodiment of the entire group.”

The doll was an instant hit. “Everyone in my mothers’ group thought it was great, so I posted her on my Instagram page,” the Brisbane, Australia, resident explained. “After that, I received a few requests to make more, and I realized that it was really something that should be available ― because, like most things that society deems unacceptable, educating children is the way to erase the stigma behind it.” She also told People that breastfeeding is “a completely natural and normal thing to do. There’s no other way to put it.” She added, “Women were given the amazing gift of being able to carry and nourish children and being shamed for doing so is just wrong.”

Strachan tells Yahoo Beauty that, although educational and nurturing toys are commonplace, she realized that there were hardly any dedicated to breastfeeding. “So I decided that I could create a breastfeeding mother and baby for mothers to simultaneously teach their children and remove the stigma associated with breastfeeding through play,” she says. “It is my belief that when children are exposed to concepts from a young age, they are less likely to recognize the negative connotations that are associated with them.”

The doll is part of a growing backlash against women being shamed for breastfeeding in public. Many celebrities — including Thandie Newton, Alyssa Milano, and Olivia Wilde — have shared intimate images of themselves breastfeeding their children to help normalize something that is perfectly natural.

Adding to her collection, Strachan also designed fashionable pregnant mom Barbies:

Want to get your hands on a breastfeeding or mom-to-be Barbie? Strachan sells her amazing dolls, which sell out quickly, under All the Little Dolls on Etsy.

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