Should "Sesame Street" Teach Kids About Breastfeeding?

[trcy]

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/sesame-street-teach-kids-breastfeeding-185000424.html

I saw this and would love to hear what you think. While I am not offended, I kind of wonder "What the point?" So, what am I missing?

[SnuggleBuggles]

Why not? The classic clips are sweet and nice. I think there are kids out there watching Sesame Street that have no exposure to nursing. They are the same kids grow up to be adults that might grow up to be adults that write off breastfeeding as "gross" and "nasty" (as one commenter said in that article). Showing bf'ing as a normal thing is always good, imo.

[trcy]

Why not? The classic clips are sweet and nice. I think there are kids out there watching Sesame Street that have no exposure to nursing. They are the same kids grow up to be adults that might grow up to be adults that write off breastfeeding as "gross" and "nasty" (as one commenter said in that article). Showing bf'ing as a normal thing is always good, imo.
Good point...I was just thinking of it from an educational point of view rather than an attitude point of view. But yes you are right. Thank you!

[JBaxter]

Good point...I was just thinking of it from an educational point of view rather than an attitude point of view. But yes you are right. Thank you!

Mammals breastfeed. Momma human, momma dog momma cat etc. It is educational.

[BDKmom]

Why not? The classic clips are sweet and nice. I think there are kids out there watching Sesame Street that have no exposure to nursing. They are the same kids grow up to be adults that might grow up to be adults that write off breastfeeding as "gross" and "nasty" (as one commenter said in that article). Showing bf'ing as a normal thing is always good, imo.

I agree. When I was pregnant with DS, I took a breastfeeding class, and the instructor made the statement that, in America, typically the mental image of a mom feeding a baby is with a bottle. The more we can do to make breastfeeding that "typical" image, the better received it will be in the future. The kids watching Sesame Street today will maybe be more likely to breastfeed or support breastfeeding, and not grow up thinking it's weird or gross, or even that it's the less common way to feed a baby.

In my case, I think I breastfed because I educated myself on the benefits and decided to give it a try, not because I grew up seeing it as the way babies are fed. I didn't assume I would BF, it was a concious choice that I made. My sister didn't even try, because she thinks it's too weird. Hopefully educating this generation will change the thought process when it comes to feeding your baby.

[Melaine]

Yes, I think the way they did the old clips was great. I don't like the way the show has changed across the board. It is a shame that most shows show babies being bottle-fed, rather than breastfed. It would be nice if more shows just showed breast feeding casually just in a matter of fact way so that it wasn't seen as so strange to so many people.

[trcy]

See, I knew all of you would make things clearer for me :) I grew up with very little exposure to breastfeeding. I was formula fed and always assumed that was what I would do. But as a young adult I had several friends that breastfed their own children, so when I became pregnant I did my own research and decided that breastfeeding was best.

[Green_Tea]

I think it's completely fine for Sesame Street to completely omit scenes that depict mothers breastfeeding - as long as they also cut scenes of babies being fed from bottles.

It's about depicting what's normal. Breastfeeding is normal. To say it's not is to imply that feeding your baby is not normal, and if that's the case then perhaps all images of babies being fed - heck, even of children and adults eating - should land on the cutting room floor.

(FTR, I fed my babies both ways - DDs thought bottles were the handiwork of the devil and flat-out refused them. DS loved his bottle because he could watch his sisters while he ate.)

[mom3boys]

In a way I'm really glad that my older DS got to see me breastfeed DS3. DS1 was too young when DS2 was born to remember seeing it. I don't think they had ever thought about or noticed my breasts before, I thought it was good they think of the purpose of breasts as for feeding a baby, since eventually when they are old the breast will be a sexualized object. It was nice to "normalize it" if you know what I mean. My DS even tried to "breastfeed" his doll, at which point I got to explain that only women can breastfeed, etc. So I think it is fine for Sesame St. to educate on this.

One time my close friend was over at my house, and I left DS3 with her for a few minutes to pick up my older DS from school. DS1 asked, "where's DS3" and I said he was at the house with Aunt Nikki. To which DS1 replied, "Oh, that's good, and Nikki can take care of him, because she has breasts". Which actually she could have because she was BF'ing her own son at that time, but I tried to explain the baby usually takes his own Mom's milk!

[DrSally]

Why not? The classic clips are sweet and nice. I think there are kids out there watching Sesame Street that have no exposure to nursing. They are the same kids grow up to be adults that might grow up to be adults that write off breastfeeding as "gross" and "nasty" (as one commenter said in that article). Showing bf'ing as a normal thing is always good, imo.

Ita. There was a classic Mr. Roger's episode that showed a mom breastfeeding, even expressing a few deops of milk from he nippke before baby latched on.

[american_mama]

I don't like the title of the article "Should Sesame TEACH...", but I liked everyting in the article itself. To say teach sounds a lot like preach and/or some detailed how to of latch, swallowing, milk production, etc. But as the article says, the vignettes are more about Sesame Street deliberately showing nursing moms and babies, and having Sesame-level conversations about how babies eat and how moms take care of babies. And yes, I think all of that is good and very relevant to what interests their viewers.

As an aside, did others have kid strangers ask what you were doing when you nursed your child? That happened to me several times, often when I'd be nursing DS on a playground. Kids were curious, sometimes smiled a little at my explanation if nursing was unfamiliar to them, but none of them were grossed out or seemed to have a hard time grasping it.

[gatorsmom]

My niece who lives in another state came in the guest room where we were staying while visiting one time when she was 8yo. I was in the middle of feeding Cha cha and she kind of caught me off-guard. I was concerned how her mother would feel since she didn't know her daughter would be walking in on me bfing but I also didn't want to scare my DN by telling her she had to leave the room. I didn't want her to think there was anything to hide or be ashamed of by bfing. So, I explained what I was doing and she sat and talked to me a bit while I was bfing. Her eyes were glued to me and she was very interested. I think she was a little shocked since she had younger sister who was not bfed and had never seen it before. That was 5 years ago and she doesn't seem to have suffered any irreparable damage. :D I told her mother later that DN walked in on me feeding Cha Cha and she just laughed.

I think it's great that Sesame street is teaching the younger generations about breast feeding. With more kids accepting it as natural and normal hopefully it will become the norm.

[ncat]

I think it's completely fine for Sesame Street to completely omit scenes that depict mothers breastfeeding - as long as they also cut scenes of babies being fed from bottles.



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