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Photo: Richard Termine/Sesame Workshop/AP
Earlier this week we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the popular children's program Sesame Street. A staple of public television, Sesame Street has been a parents' favorite since its debut on November 10, 1969. Recently, Sesame Street expanded its focus on healthful living with exercise and good eating habits. But in actuality, the program has been promoting healthy eating for babies since its inception, depicting breastfeeding and breastmilk as the normal, natural way to feed infants and drawing praise from members of the attachment parenting community for years.
One well-known clip from 1977 features a mother named Buffy and her infant son, Cody. While she nurses her baby, Buffy explains to Big Bird why some mothers feed their babies at their breast. "He likes it because it's nice and warm and sweet and natural; it's good for him. And I get to hug him while I do it!"
Some controversy exists over this next clip, which highlights video segments of parents and their babies set to the song "You're My Baby" written and performed by Sesame Street's musical director, Joe Raposo. The original clip (see below) was aired in the mid-1980s and briefly shows a mother breastfeeding her baby at approximately the 1:10 mark. This segment was updated for the 21st century and, sadly, the breastfeeding clip was replaced with that of a baby being bottle-fed.
The most recent video promoting breastfeeding on Sesame Street is also from the 1980s and shows the popular character Maria nursing her (very covered up) daughter. Like Buffy in the first video, Maria explains why she enjoys breastfeeding her baby. "I like feeding her this way [at the breast] the best; it's natural, it's good for her, and I get a chance to hug her some more!"
Comments
It's neat to see SS depicting BFing over the years but sad that they have stopped doing it, probably for fear of offending. I'd love to see them do some new segments on it!
It's also so nice to see a breastfeeding examiner for Minneapolis now. I've subscribed to help support your column. :)
~ Alicia (Minneapolis Attachment Parenting Examiner)
Thanks for subscribing, Alicia! I had subscribed to your feed the other day, too! Maybe at some point we can collaborate on an article - breastfeeding and attachment parenting do go hand-in-hand, after all! :)
I really wish Sesame Street would air some new pro-breastfeeding segments, too. I think it's very sad that anyone is offended by breastfeeding, and we are missing a great opportunity to teach our kids that breastfeeding is normal.
Great article! We love Sesame Street, and are so glad they have promoted breastfeeding in the past.
Thank you, Alison--I'm really glad you liked it! :) Now it would be great if they would do some new segments promoting breastfeeding, wouldn't it?
I went to their website but there is something wrong with the comment section, it kept saying I have invalid characters! It was frustrating!
Oh no, I was hoping that was an issue that only I was having. :( I even went so far as to email a ton of different email addresses ending in @sesameworkshop.com, but they all came back to me undeliverable.
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