The Next Breastfeeding Generation

I received this message in an email which relates to the post about the breastfeeding doll and how we should go about teaching the next generation about breastfeeding. I loved the story and the picture that was submitted with it!

"From time to time, Jaklyn (my oldest, now 3) mimics my actions and unfortunately phrases too but that's a whole other story!  She has a little pink pig neck roll pillow that I bought for her when we were going to be traveling and after we brought Edison (my youngest, now 9 months) home from the hospital, Jak noticed me nursing with a boppy pillow (side note:  I was too cheap to buy a new pillow and there was no breast friend [mybrestfriend nursing pillow] to be found 3 years ago!!  But if I have another, I will invest in one because I know the importance of a good pillow!!  But for now, we still use our old floppy boppy!).  She began to use (and refer to) her neck pillow as a boppy and began to nurse her babies, using it as well.  She recently recieved another neck pillow (this time a cow) for her birthday and when opening it up, she said "Oh, another boppy!".  So I was lucky to capture this the other day and wanted to share it with you!! 
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Love your blog and have referred many new moms and second time moms to it!  Keep up the great work!!"

I cannot express how happy and hopeful I am to see this precious little girl pretending to nurse her baby doll! THANK YOU Jaklyn's mom for not only breastfeeding, and for sharing your story and this darling picture with our readers, but I also have to thank you for raising children to understand that breastfeeding is natural and it's a good thing! Our kids don't need a special toy bra that stimulates a doll to make sucking sounds for little girls to understand how to feed a baby. Just like mommy, they can use a little neck pillow (or pretend boppy pillow) and pretend to nurse their baby dolls. As for you moms with little boys that pretend to nurse their stuffed animals by sticking them under their shirt (you know who you are and I know you're embarassed by it) you can explain that only mommies can make baby milk, but don't be overly sensitive about it, think about how supportive they will be to their future wife and other breastfeeding mothers. I'm convinced that as long as we expose our children to the way babies are naturally fed the next generation will not only be more comfortable with breastfeeding in general, but much more successful as well!