Woman creates breastfeeding Barbie doll to battle stigma

She's also made a pregnant Barbie

(instagram/allthelittledolls)

There’s been a stigma around breastfeeding for a long time, but like many people, Betty Strachan has had enough of it.

Strachan, however, has taken action in a completely unique way by making a breastfeeding Barbie doll.

“Growing up, it always struck me as odd that there wasn't as much diversity in the doll world as there could or should be. Not every child is born with blonde hair and blue eyes. Some have freckles, some have gaps in their teeth,” she said.

The 28-year-old mother-of-two from Brisbane, Australia, started making custom dolls after having her own children, now aged three and five, and seeing the effect toys had on young children.

“I noticed that the lack of diversity could be potentially damaging psychologically. A girl with brown skin and dark eyes may look at a light skinned doll and wonder why it's classed as beautiful and she is not,” Strachan explained.

Her latest breastfeeding doll is called the “Mamas Worldwide Barbie,” but the idea came to her out of nowhere when she was with a group of mothers one day: “I was drawing the new face on a Barbie doll, and she just seemed to be the embodiment of the entire group,” she told the Huffington Post.

She then used an old figurine to mimic the position of a latched baby, and after being well-received amongst mothers and on instagram, the dolls quickly sold out on her Etsy shop.

But the breastfeeding doll isn’t Strachan’s first motherly creation - she’s also created pregnant Barbies in the past.

Through children playing with her diverse dolls, she hopes to make some change in the world: “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 said.