Skip to main content

It's a fight that's been played out in shopping malls and online.

Now, breastfeeding advocates are taking their cause to Sesame Street. A group of "Breastfeeding mothers and their supporters everywhere" who are seeking to "normalize" nursing are asking Sesame Street to bring the practice back to the show.

A petition on the Care2 petition site, which has collected more than 6,700 signatures, says the popular children's program used to tastefully show mothers breastfeeding their infants during the 1970s and '80s, but claims the show has now replaced such images with bottle-feeding.

The petition notes it's not asking Sesame Street to quit showing bottle-feeding, but rather to portray both bottle and breastfeeding as normal.

"If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders which will support our economy, make for healthier children and lessen the risk of breast cancer for many nursing mamas!" it states.

Certainly, breastfeeding mothers have faced their share of censorship.

But some are wondering whether a children's show is really the right place to highlight the issue.

As the website Buzzfeed states, "Maybe I'm not watching enough 'Sesame Street' these days, but is a lack of nursing moms…really something that's missing from the children's TV series?"

And Time's Newsfeed blog questions: "Why do these parents and concerned citizens feel the need to promote the issue on children's television?"

What do you think? Is the petition to show breastfeeding on Sesame Street misguided, or a good starting point?

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe