What Do You Think of TIME‘s Breastfeeding Cover?

[Rockinonahigh]

I'm glad I dont read time mag,Its just dosent seem right to brest feed a three year old.When I had my kids I refused to brest feed them( my choice),as for brest feeding its a persons choice...but if it must be done in public do it as privatly as possable.This is my opinion only not to rain on any one elses idea of the issue.No more to be said form me.

[SweetJane]

I was a La Leche League leader. I breastfed both of my children. Both until they were about 2 1/2. By that time it wasn't for food or antibodies as much as it was at bedtime to calm them from a busy day or when they were ill. I also practiced attachment parenting, but we never called it that---it was simply good mothering, being attentive to your child, realizing their was a reason why they cried, and putting their needs first as you slowly helped them to become very independent human beings---and both of mine were.

I did support other mothers who nursed their children far longer than that. It was their particular choice and usually varied from child to child.

I nursed my children in public, usually under a pretty shawl.

But I never could understand why some people thought even knowing what your child was doing under that shawl was somehow offensive. Especially, since some of these same people wore clothing that showed more than I ever did.

I never wanted to feed my babies in a public restroom. How would you like to have spaghetti in a bathroom?

I do think the Time cover was provocative and meant to create controversy. That's a sad shame really because it puts a lot of mothers in a bad light because they choose to nurse a child beyond a year and it casts a cloud over the content of the article about attentive mothering.

[SugarFemme]

I agree 100% with everything you said

Originally Posted by SweetJane

I was a La Leche League leader. I breastfed both of my children. Both until they were about 2 1/2. By that time it wasn't for food or antibodies as much as it was at bedtime to calm them from a busy day or when they were ill. I also practiced attachment parenting, but we never called it that---it was simply good mothering, being attentive to your child, realizing their was a reason why they cried, and putting their needs first as you slowly helped them to become very independent human beings---and both of mine were.

I did support other mothers who nursed their children far longer than that. It was their particular choice and usually varied from child to child.

I nursed my children in public, usually under a pretty shawl.

But I never could understand why some people thought even knowing what your child was doing under that shawl was somehow offensive. Especially, since some of these same people wore clothing that showed more than I ever did.

I never wanted to feed my babies in a public restroom. How would you like to have spaghetti in a bathroom?

I do think the Time cover was provocative and meant to create controversy. That's a sad shame really because it puts a lot of mothers in a bad light because they choose to nurse a child beyond a year and it casts a cloud over the content of the article about attentive mothering.

[Scuba]

Color my clueless I guess but mothers have been nursing their children since the beginning of time. It's how baby's get fed. Whoa and get this the wee one gets all of the appropriate nutrients and antibodies necessary for sustaining it's life. And God forbid we should demonstrate effective methods for parental bonding in public. Do we gasp and close our eyes in horror and shame when we see a kitten nursing? Someone want to tell mamma Polar Bear she really should find a more appropriate place to nurse her young? Sound ridiculous? It should...

Funny how SOCIETY sexualizes/objectifies and shames women all in the same sentence.

I am SO over the patriarch and it's ignorant agenda that I just cringe anymore when articles like this are published. It's high time some people just get over themselves and grow up.

**steps off soapbox**

Thank you for the 5 minutes...

Scoobs

[SugarFemme]

Kudos to you for this post. I agree with you that the sexualization of feeding your child is inappropriate. And that Time Magazine would stoop so low is sensationalist reporting nonsense. What they call "Extreme Parenting", is being done in MANY cultures all over the world currently. And because it is not a part of Western Culture it is wrong according to the naysayers. What an arrogant, closed minded, and provincial attitude towards parenting and women. Not only is it sexist, but it is classist as well.

Originally Posted by Scuba

Color my clueless I guess but mothers have been nursing their children since the beginning of time. It's how baby's get fed. Whoa and get this the wee one gets all of the appropriate nutrients and antibodies necessary for sustaining it's life. And God forbid we should demonstrate effective methods for parental bonding in public. Do we gasp and close our eyes in horror and shame when we see a kitten nursing? Someone want to tell mamma Polar Bear she really should find a more appropriate place to nurse her young? Sound ridiculous? It should...

Funny how SOCIETY sexualizes/objectifies and shames women all in the same sentence.

I am SO over the patriarch and it's ignorant agenda that I just cringe anymore when articles like this are published. It's high time some people just get over themselves and grow up.

**steps off soapbox**

Thank you for the 5 minutes...

Scoobs

[Breathless]

I breast fed both my children, because I was lucky enough to physically be able to. I covered up, a little, as I was uncomfortable being stared at, but I was not about to allow my child to sweat like crazy while trying to nurse. I absolutely support and encourage breast feeding for the nutritional value, and bonding opportunity that it provides. I totally disagree when it is done for shock value and attention.

[Beloved]

[Abigail Crabby]

I see nothing wrong with breastfeeding in public, attachment parenting and more.

We are more than sexual beings, we are Mothers who (ok some don't always) love their children and do what is best for them.

Screw Time for trying to exploit something natural and beautiful if that's what they are doing I've not read the story and guess I will have to go buy the issue to find out...

[The_Lady_Snow]

I watched an interview with Mom, child, Time Magazine person and the doctor who advocates this type of patenting. Mom looked and seemed pretty ok with her and her family's choice to breastfeeding till the age the child is at. She was weaning him now, she also stated that this was not for everyone and both her and the doctor said it was a choice some mothers could make and if you can't you can apply some of the parenting not all.

I personally feel the picture taken was marketing and the controversy ran amok.

What I will NEVER understand is why people have to sexualize, pervert, be so crude regarding a mother and her child and their choice.

The comments that have been made were so disgusting and ugly.

If you have MSNBC on your phone you can watch the interview on there.

[Novelafemme]

Oh Holy Hell, how did I miss this one!!

With my first daughter I breastfed until she weaned herself at 7 months. Awesome! She also preferred to sleep in her crib and didn't like to be held a lot. She is still somewhat touch sensitive unless I tackle her.

With Sophia all rules flew out the window. She wanted to be strapped to my body 24/7...seriously! She nursed until she was 3&1/2 and would have joyously continued had I not weaned her. The kid LOVED nursing!! And honestly, I really didn't give it a second thought because it was something she loved and it was such a wonderful bonding experience for us both. We would rock and hum songs and she would twist my earlobe around in her fingers. I would practice extended breastfeeding again in a heartbeat were I to have another baby and that was our chosen path.

I also nursed my daughters anywhere and everywhere. I wasn't some militant mom who was out to defy social norms, but I did see value in my baby eating when and where she wanted to and me not having to cover her up in the Tucson heat with something so other humans don't have to experience the vile shame that is my breast. GASP!

Have I been shamed for all of this? You betcha! Not so much by family, even though by the time Sophia was 3 they were all "uh...you're STILL nursing her??" but many times strangers would express their displeasure...to which I would always smile and ask if they would like to eat their lunch/breakfast/dinner in the bathroom. I also had a partner who thought it was disgusting and asked me to not ever talk about that part of my parenting philosophy.

Ultimately, you just have to do what feels right and FUCK everyone else's opinions. Our breasts are not just fun-bags. Feeding babies is what they are there for, dammit!

I also co-slept with Sophia because I worked crazy long hours and she missed me. Today she is unbelievably smart, totally independent and very healthy...as is my oldest!

Shamers be gone. Mom's, do what speaks to your heart and stand firm to your convictions! I haven't read the article and probably won't because I've lived through it in real time.

Gotta go graduate now. XOXO, Novela

[Glenn]

As a regular member of a few hetero-male sites, where feminism is usually frowned upon, and because the child is a boy, I think many hetero-men may view this cover picture as symbolic of the sissification of American men by modern women(for which there seems to be a growing belief and angst).

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by Glenn

As a regular member of a few hetero-male sites, where feminism is usually frowned upon, and because the child is a boy, I think many hetero-men may view this cover picture as symbolic of the sissification of American men by modern women(for which there seems to be a growing belief and angst).

DING DING DING..

The photograph itsel brings out some pretty fucked up thinking.

It's what's happening to women and breastfeeding there's some weird reactions to where mothers making a choice are being singled out for feeding their child.


It's a choice that these women make it shouldn't be degraded, it should be celebrated because they say fuck you and your assumptions I'm nurturing my child the way and she/he pleases.

My cubs are all grown and still curl up next to me like when they were babies. Parenting is something that comes with no garuantees of success, no instructions, no manuals, we just do it and hope we don't ingrain the shit our parents did.

We hope they are evolved and hope through them change comes, breastfeeding or not...

[Quintease]

I wouldn't do it but I don't have a problem with it.

Society has got to get over their revulsion of women's bodies.

[JAGG]

No one can dispute the fact that a mothers milk is what is best for the BABY. Any BABY! Any baby animal until they are old enough to hunt for themselves or eat solid food. And when a baby is hungry it should be fed. No one should take issue with that. That's what breasts are for, but breast feeding a 6 yr old? I find this very disturbing, alarming and beyond strange.Once a child has teeth, they no longer need substance from breast milk, they can get it from food. I haven't read the article , nor do I care to. If it's ok to breast feed a 6 yr old , why stop there ,why not a 16yr old ? Or a 26 yr old? There are plenty of ways to nurture and bond with your kids ,that doesn't involve breast feeding a child who no longer needs it for substance. I find it disturbing, on many levels.

[aishah]

Originally Posted by JAGG

No one can dispute the fact that a mothers milk is what is best for the BABY. Any BABY! Any baby animal until they are old enough to hunt for themselves or eat solid food. And when a baby is hungry it should be fed. No one should take issue with that. That's what breasts are for, but breast feeding a 6 yr old? I find this very disturbing, alarming and beyond strange.Once a child has teeth, they no longer need substance from breast milk, they can get it from food. I haven't read the article , nor do I care to. If it's ok to breast feed a 6 yr old , why stop there ,why not a 16yr old ? Or a 26 yr old? There are plenty of ways to nurture and bond with your kids ,that doesn't involve breast feeding a child who no longer needs it for substance. I find it disturbing, on many levels.

the model states in the article that she breastfed her older son (who is i think 5 or 6) because he was adopted and the process was really traumatizing for him. she only did it for a short amount of time to help him adjust and connect while he learned english and got settled in. makes sense to me.

[girl_dee]

the model herself was breastfed by her mother until 6 and she weaned herself.

[girl_dee]

2 things came to mind a while ago

1) Pacifiers, do people who have issues with "extended" breastfeeding (only called that in America) have a problem with a pacifier? Or is it just the child on the breast that seems bothersome when the child wants to suck ?

2) In this country we drink cows milk. The child stops drinking breastmilk and goes to cow's milk, sometimes at 6 months - a year. Again is it the child attached to the breast that is the issue? Seems like mothers milk would be the better choice, so is it the child's independence we are trying attain?

[princessbelle]

I never breast fed and the reason i didn't is because i went back to work 6 weeks after giving birth, both times. I did not want to "pump" due to the inconvenience quite honestly and that was the only reason. My kids had formula and they were healthy and i don't really have an issue with either way. I think as long as the child is healthy and thriving, keep doing what you are doing.

Now a pacifier, that is another story...

My oldest never would take one, he actually gagged when i tried to give it to him. My youngest was over 3 before i got him off of that. He called it his "ossie-wass" no clue where that came from but it was comfort to him and he would panic when it wasn't around. So would i . Not positive that him getting braces was because of that or not, but that is something that i've heard. The suckling need in every baby is something that they have to have and is an ingrained way of staying alive.

As i've said before, whether you breast feed or not and whether you do so until whatever age YOU see fit as a mother and child dynamic, it's YOUR business. Given the context of feeding and nurturing, there is no wrong way in my book.

[RockOn]

I do not have children but think breast feeding is a normal thing some moms choose to do.

feel free to correct me:
By age three, aren't children well into eating on their own? If this is true, I am not understanding the purpose of this photo.

My curiosity made me wonder. What if this child on the cover were female ... Would it bring out gay-haters in the U.S. to rant this could create lesbians? I do believe the child's gender in photo was selected with tremendous care.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by Brock

I do not have children but think breast feeding is a normal thing some moms choose to do.

feel free to correct me:
By age three, aren't children well into eating on their own? If this is true, I am not understanding the purpose of this photo.

My curiosity made me wonder. What if this child on the cover were female ... Would it bring out gay-haters in the U.S. to rant this could create lesbians? I do believe the child's gender in photo was selected with tremendous care.

I think and feel people would be just as ugly, how anyone can sexualize a child is ridiculous to me since children up to the age of puberty are pretty genderless unless we as parents are enforcing the binary of what boys and girls are "supposed to do"


Anything we do as parents don't "make our kids gay/bi/trans they are either born this way and if they don't know right away they should be given the chance to express or experiment with their sexuality without shaming from a parent.

Anyways that's what I think I could be wrong.. She was selected because she is a parent with 2 sons who practices attachment parenting, it's savy the way the war on women continues in the tiniest of ways especially in the media....