Sesame Street Breastfeeding: Moms Push To Bring Nursing Back To TV Show

allnurses Guide · Jan 12, 2012

Steph, while I agree with you about the time spent, I will have to say that anybody who has never breasted for whatever reason, is at a disadvantage when it comes to teaching! Not that having a bf history should be required, but it can't hurt. That being said, I do not regret my own personal decision to not breast feed.

Well, I'll be honest here and tell you I lived to see that lactation consultant walk down the hall. :yelclap:

MomRN0913 · Jan 12, 2012

How familiar with Sesame Street are you?
Coming from a television broadcasting background prior to nursing, I fully support and applaud the mission of the Children's Television Workshop. Would that MORE of TV programming had such values behind it.

I grew up watching sesame street. It was one of the 5 channels i had for the first 6 years of my life. I watch it with my 4 year old. It's fine the way it is, but it gets to be a little bit too much with the issues that concern adults.

My DD watches children's television that teaches her how to count, read and spell. How to treat her friends and parents and elders with respect. How to do some preschool level conflict resolving. How to be open minded regarding topics that are applicable and necessary to her age.

melmarie23, MSN, RN · Jan 15, 2012

this is the age in which children are most impressionable. So what better time to teach them the different ways in which a baby can be fed? That people come in all shapes in colors. That sometimes other kids are mean, and how to appropriately deal with bullying. That sometimes bad things happen in the world (i.e. 9/11).

Why must these lessons happen behind closed doors? And why only by the parents? Parents are not the only educators of our children, and life lessons do not only happen at home.

These children are already living in the real world. All the above happens around them on a daily basis.

I breastfeed my son, who is now a year (acutally he still nurses, but he has already started to wean), and plan on breastfeeding my new little one who is due in just over 6 months. To those who have said that preschool age is not the time for children to be taught about breastfeeding....what do you suggest for me to do in 6 months when my second is due? Hide myself and his sibling q2-3h when the baby needs to nurse? Not really practical since it will just be myself home with them at least for the first 6-12 weeks while my husband is working.

OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2012

I disagree, children don't need to be educated on breast feeding. There is no need to put it on a kids show. Nothing wrong with breastfeeding, but it's preschool learning and the last time I checked preschoolers don't need to see breastfeeding. They can get the normal natural education when they are ready for sex ed.
And as for the above poster, yes, women make the choice not to breastfeed. What's so shocking? It isn't for everyone. Some women find it uncomfortable or their lifestyle doesn't support it.. My friend chose not and she has 2 healthy beautiful children. I couldn't for technical reasons. So, be a little more open-minded to those who choose not to breast feed, then maybe people will be a little more open minded to those who do, in public.

See I think this is the problem with our society to make everything so sexual. Breasts are made for feeding a baby and theres nothing wrong about that. I thought it was the cutest thing when my nieces starting feeding there baby dolls by pulling their shirts down because thats the way they saw their aunt feed her baby. I understand not everyone breastfeeds but to make it taboo and artificially feeding your child "normal" is nonsense to me.

PeepnBiscuitsRN · Feb 18, 2012

Personally (and at this point I doubt anyone cares about my little old opinion) I think Sesame Street has become pretty dumb compared to what it once was. My 3 year old occasionally watches it, and it seems REALLY dumbed down. We have the "Old School Sesame Street" Volumes 1&2. From the 70's.

Anyway, as for the breastfeeding. I think if it's okay to show a baby bottle feeding, then it should be okay to show a child breastfeeding. I didn't watch the clip- but I'm pretty sure I know which one it is- it's from the 70's is it? Buffy is breastfeeding Cody and Big Bird asks (as a curious child might) what she's doing, and she explains it. Or is it the slightly updated one with Maria? Or is it the song "you're my baby" and they show the woman sitting in the field, and they kinda move in close up to the baby who is snoozing at the breast?

Really, with billboards promoting "Sexpos" and Sex shops with big window sized posters that face outside, as well as Victoria's in any mall...and don't get me started on magazines and TV and music- I mean it would be nice if kids got an idea that boobies are for more than just erotic purposes.

PS: KATY PERRY?! ON SESAME STREET? Really? Katy "I kissed a girl" Perry? Who next... (man I'm just nothing but a prude).

rn/writer, RN · Feb 18, 2012

We have a rather large family and there's nearly always someone breastfeeding. Kids see siblings and cousins nursing and take it in stride. They also sometimes see babies being bottle fed (whether they're getting formula or breast milk)and that doesn't raise their eyebrows either. They know there is more than one way to feed a baby. Not a big deal. Hiding breastfeeding away or quickly changing the channel if a mother was breastfeeding on TV would convey that there was something wrong or improper going on and quickly change the relaxed atmosphere into a tense moment for no good reason.

The kids don't skip a beat unless the grown-ups do If adults get all flustered about something many kids see every day, the kids notice that discomfort and get the message that something is wrong. That's unfortunate.

Here's a parallel.

In our family, we have a number of people who were adopted. Many years ago, being adopted carried such a stigma that it was kept secret, sometimes forever. My folks didn't agree with that. When they adopted my brother they decided to tell him the truth from the start. We kids were all told that being born to, or adopted by, our parents were just different ways of getting into the family. This matter-of-fact approach made adoption feel ordinary and normal to us. It wasn't until I was in my mid-teens that I found out that some people felt adoption was something you should tip-toe around and whisper about. They were astonished at how freey my family spoke about it and how open the subject was in our house.

Had my parents kept the adoption secret (they brought my brother home from the hospital is if he'd been born to them) and told us later when we "were old enough to understand," we would have thought there was something slightly sinister for them to have hidden it away all that time.

If we want the up-and-coming generations to see breastfeeding as healthy and normal and something that they (or their partners) might want to do for their children, we need to let it be what it is, an everyday part of life with an infant. Just as birth and adoption are different ways of entering a family, so breastfeeding and bottlefeeding are different ways of nourishing a child. Keeping part of either equation hidden until adolescence puts it into the shadowy realm of something suspicious that needs to be hidden away.

Kids, even little ones, are so much smarter and more capable of understanding ideas than we give them credit for. If they're given simple, honest explanations about the interesting things in their lives, they'll easily move on to something else. And they'll trust us down the road when the questions aren't as easy to answer.