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Parenting
Breastfeeding
Can you tell me how to get, how to get this baby to eat?
For the current Sesame Street generation, the obvious answer could become "breastfeeding" if an online petition is successful. More than 7,213 supporters have signed on to encourage Sesame Street to bring back breastfeeding on the show. "If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders," the group says.
In the 1970s and 80s, Sesame Street regularly featured breastfeeding as a normal part of baby care. In 1977, for instance, Big Bird got a little lactation lesson while guest star Buffy Sainte-Marie nursed her swaddled babe. Check it out:
And in a clip from the 80s, Maria, played by Sonia Manzano, nursed while talking about how she both bottlefed and breastfed her real-life daughter Gabi.
In Sesame Street's popular 1970s-era "You're my baby" montage, a baby is breastfed, but by the time the video was updated for the 1990s, only bottlefeeding was shown. Watch the original version here:
The petition's sponsor, "breastfeeding mothers and their supporters everywhere," aim to snag 8,500 signatures encouraging Sesame Street to bring back breastfeeding.
What do you think, mamas? Will you sign the petition? Should Sesame Street return to its days of depicting discreet breastfeeding? Or should families -- not TV shows -- should decide whether to expose children to breastfeeding?
