Baby Parenting Guide

How should I deal with my 3 year old doughter and breast feeding?

My daughter is being cared for in a home day care. Recently one of the ladies there had a baby, which she is breast feeding of course. I noticed one time my daughter pretends to breast feed her dolls. At first i did'nt think much of it . But I really dont like that she does it. One time I told her only mommy can do that and she said Do you want to be the mommy? I just played something different with her. What should I really say or do?

Public Response to How should I deal with my 3 year old doughter and breast feeding?

1. She's imitating what she sees. That's how she sees a baby being cared for, so she cares for her "babies" this way too.She probably dresses and changes her doll's diaper as well. I wouldn't make a big deal about it.
2. shes just a littel girl let her enjoy life tell her if she wants to be cool thats not!
3. just let her do it... she is learning how things work etc.. and this fascination with breastfeeding will pass.
4. In my opinion, Its a tad natural, as she is a girl, alot of little girls i know do that. If there playing "mommy" That is a part of being a mommy. :)
5. Its all a part of learning for children, they learn from other child, adults ect, theres not a lot you can do about it and the more fuss you make the more she will do it, this is all a learning experience, the only thing i can recommend is saying honey please dont do that and then distract her with something else, or next time just say sweetheart if you want to play like that then you need to do it in your bedroom, this way you dont see it, and she knows not to do it in public, not that thats a problem either, like i said its a part of learning shes just being a kid and will grow out of it one day, b/f is natural so its only natural she would experiment, at least shes got a mothering instinck.
6. i don't understand the problem. she's just feeding her baby doll the way babies are suppose to be fed. you should encourage it. would you feel like this if she was feeding her baby a bottle? no offense but this is a little crazy. you cant be that uptight about breastfeeding that you would ruin your 3 year old's play time?
7. Leave her be!! My son went through that stage too when a friend had her baby. She will outgrow it the more attention you give her about it the longer it will last!!
8. Nothing, it's normal and AWESOME that she understands that breasts are for feeding babies. I would say that you're a great mom and your daughter is one smart cookie. Just wait until your son tries to nurse his stuffed animals ;)
9. She is just exploring. Do NOT make a big deal out of this. If you tell her it's bad, she will have a warped idea of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is natural. Engage in her play and explain how other newborn animals get milk from their moms, and answer any questions she has (to her level) no need for drawn out explanations. After all she is only three. I breast feed and my 3 year old niece was curious. I covered myself at first but she kept asking questions and wanted to see. I showed her how the baby got her milk and answered her questions like does it hurt, and can everyone feed my baby like that. After that, it was no big deal and she no longer really notices when I feed my baby. She just tells me when she gets married she will feed her baby like that too. Just let your daughter explore this new idea and it will fade away.
10. Why does it bother you? My kids pretend nurse their babies all the time. It just reinforces that that's a positive way to feed a baby, imo. If she's playing with dolls she's already doing stuff that "mommies do" so it doesn't make much sense to discourage that unless you take away the doll altogether.
11. My 3 year old did the same thing when we brought home her little sister and I was nursing her in front of her. She would try to nurse her dolls and stuffed animals, it bothered me a little bit but she only did it for a few days until she adjusted to it. Her sister is 6 months old now and I havent seen her do it in a few months. Just explain to her that each mommy can only feed their babies and encourage her to ask questions. The more she knows the less likely she is to be fascinated with it.
12. I think it's great! I agree that making a big deal out of it will warp her ideas of breastfeeding. What exactly is the problem? Breastfeeding is natural and that girl thing we have of wanting to take care of babies is natural too. Play with her you'll both have fun, just get rid of the negative thoughts you have about breastfeeding. It's wonderful she is seeing it
13. What is wrong with her breastfeeding her dolls? She is getting a healthy view of motherhood, of the natural flow of things. Breastfeeding is a biologically normal thing, the way nature intends things. Please do not try and discourage this behavior, it is healthy and normal. Simply teach her that when babies are born, they get food from nursing on their mommy....that is the way nature intended things.
14. She sounds smart.
15. Just leave her. It's perfectly natural for her to "feed" her "baby". My mum had 5 daughters, breastfed us all and we all "fed" our "babies" when mum fed the real baby. All kids do it when they are exposed to it. My niece is 2 years old and has a 4 month old brother who is breastfed. She does the same thing with her dolls and even went one step further the other day and tried to feed her mummy,lol. We all thought it was very cute and funny. She has only done it the once so far and hopefully not again. Once was enough,lol.
16. There's nothing wrong with it. I did it when I was little :] She just wants to be a mommy.
17. It's probably better that she's imitating breastfeeding rather than bottle feeding anyway, since breastfeeding is the recommended way to feed.