Hey All!
I just wanted to take a quick moment to show my support to my fellow blogger and friend Jamie Lynne Grumet from Iamnotthebabysister.com is on the latest cover of TIME magazine! This article is every where! I’m so proud to see that the power of the mommy blogger has been taken to a whole new level! It was on the View this morning as I was watching.
I have to say it’s really sad and disgusting how quickly people are tearing her down and saying such mean and horrible things about her. Like even the women of the view were calling her insane amongst other things. You would think women on a television show who are trying to promote women’s rights and their right to choose would be supportive of a MOM gracing the cover of Time Magazine and actually being proud of being a mother! It’s all over Twitter and Facebook since people are up in arms about her and her son are on the cover as she is breastfeeding him while he is standing on a chair. It is showing an example of attachment parenting. In all honesty, when is a 3 YEAR OLD considered not a baby! He’s a BABY and let him breast feed in peace. If he was as tall as me I would have a problem with it but come on people. Let people make the best decisions for their families and let’s not judge.
Attachment parenting is right for some and not right for some. It’s every moms right to judge how they want to raise their children! Yes there are parents that may take attachment parenting to the extreme, but that can be said about any parenting style. Haven’t you seen those shows on Discovery channel?
I support and commend my friend Jamie Lynne Grumet for being so brave to come out with her story and for being the best mom she can be to her two beautiful boys!
What are your thoughts about attachment parenting and about this cover image? And if you have something horrible to say about my friend your comment will get deleted. You can speak your mind about not liking it but please don’t spread HATE!
Welcome!
Comments
I’m a HUGE advocate for breastfeeding but I’m Sorry but three is too old to nurse. My third daughter was medically challenged. I nursed her until she was 25 month and was going to nurse her a few months longer but medical problems forced us to stop. I personally believe that when a child can talk then he or she needs to start normal foods. It’s called adjusting to life… eating solids. You wouldn’t expect a child of 3 to be sucking a bottle do you? I think it’s awesome your friend wants to share her view on breastfeeding but really when is she going to stop?
I think everyone is entitled to their own views on parenting and breastfeeding and when they feel is the proper time to stop breastfeeding. Her mother stopped breastfeeding her when she was 6, so I think everyone has the right to do what they feel is best for them and their child. My whole point of this post is to show support for her because there is no need to tear someone down because they think breastfeeding a 3 year old is wrong. Who are we to judge what’s right for someone else right? It’s not harming me or my children what someone else is doing. I say more power to her and everyone has a right to their own way of parenting that’s right for them.
What did she want to accomplish by getting photographed like this? She knew full well people would judge her. I don’t mind that she does it she should have kept it private between her and her son . I don’t like that she is getting the wrong attention. Does she know that THIS picture will be available to her son FOREVER. He will be teased. I’m sad for him. I guess the better question is why did she do this? She obviously wanted attention. I respect your views and thank you for doing a blog post about this.
Would your friend support a bottle feeding mother? She seems passionate about her cause but would she give the same respect to a bottle feeding mother? I would be interested to know that.
My problem with this whole thing isn’t that she is doing it. She should have known she would get negative comments from this. It would be expected. My problem with this whole thing is that picture!
Breast feeding is a private moment between mom and baby. It’s bonding and nurturing and the picture on the cover does NOT portray that. She isn’t holding her son or comforting him. He is just there. I don’t have a problem with what she is doing but how she is portraying it.
Not only does our friend support bottle feeding mothers she supports all mothers. My favorite post on her blog refers to how the “Boob Nazis” need to lay off the bottle feeding moms. It is on point and speaks to the belief of to each their own.
I don’t see why anyone would breastfeed past one year old. My mom never did with me or my sister, and we turned out fine. I find it strange that anyone would breastfeed a walking and talking child… who has teeth even! I mean, if the breast milk is important to you, use a breast pump. But I feel that by 2 years old a kid should be using sippy cups and eating some solids, not suckling. Of course, according to most women I am not allowed to have an opinion on this because I’ve chosen not to be a mother yet. But I really don’t think my view will change if and when I get pregnant, because I know the ‘up to one year’ rule has been fine for almost every person I know.
But to each their own I guess.
Actually the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until age 2 years old. That doesn’t mean they don’t also have solids and water and juice. Most kids who wean on their own throughout the world do so between 4 and 5 years old.
to each their own!
At some point you have to teach your child to crawl and can’t carry them any longer, then you have to push them to walk.
You have to teach them how to use the potty, instead of the comfort of a diaper.
You have to teach them how to go from a crib to a toddler bed to a twin bed.
And from home to school.
Our job as parents is to not only make sure they are physically healthy, but mentally so. And sometimes those lessons are about letting go, of growing up and moving into the next phase of their life. Sadly, I think it is with some Moms that breastfeed so late (not all!) not for the child, but for them, because they don’t want to let go.
The photo shows her proud of doing this, but is the child? Is he happy to be standing there showing the entire world that he’s suckling on his Mom? When it comes to this age in a child’s life it is about comfort, like my son and sucking on his thumb, it has nothing to do with food because they can eat regular food and drink from a cup just fine. It is a comfort thing and it’s personal, when they need their Moms and all this photo shows is “LOOK AT ME”. She is not being the comforting mom holding her son and saying, this is Mommyhood, this is what we’re about. She is looking at the camera with her hand on her hip and her other pushing her son towards her. It’s sad. It’s just really… really sad. She either had a bad photo person or she just really showed a egotistical self centered face to the world that doesn’t really think much about her child’s opinion in the matter.
I think it’s up to moms and their babies to decide what’s right, although I do remember nursing my daughter past her second birthday and seeing a video of the English woman breastfeeding her 8 year old and being VERY creeped out. I think a lot of it is contextual. At 3, I certainly don’t think that nursing should be a baby’s primary food source but I don’t think it’s particularly weird or wrong for a child to seek that comfort. I wouldn’t feel comfortable nursing an older child in public, I think it should be a private thing.
I just want to tell you that I do commend your friend for putting herself and her son out there. While I know this is a huge stretch, I hope people can just see this as a different style and go on with their lives, but as you mentioned with the Twitter, Facebook, and the talking on the view, it will not. Congrats to her for standing up for something she strongly believes in.
(Please note that I am not going to agree with or disagree with her parenting choice)
Let’s analyze this. Time’s objective is to SELL magazines – so they are going to favor showing a controversial cover, which may or may not genuinely reflect the content. The View’s objective is to attract viewers – so they are going to drum up the drama and the controversy every way they can. The content and the content’s message are completely subordinate to the media’s objectives. Don’t be so surprised!
I have no issue with extended breastfeeding. What I don’t like is how the cover image and title is portrayed. What mom really breastfeeds her child standing on a chair? How about a loving, nurturing photo? And I take offense to the “are you mom enough” – my supply tanked after 15 months. I had wanted to BF longer, but wasn’t able to. But I KNOW I’m mom enough. We all make our own choices with parenting, and as long as our child is fed, clothed and loved that’s what matters. Not sharing a bed, breastfeeding til 4 or anything else like that.
I do not have a problem with the photo. I have a problem with Time Magazine calling me, an attachment parent, extreme. They could have portrayed this so so differently and got a more positive response instead of doing something for shock value.
There is nothing EXTREME about me parenting or breastfeeding my almost 2 year old, who by the way was 8 weeks early so technically she won’t be two until August.
I agree that Time was a little over the top on this one, but when are they not. I applaud moms who want to and can continue to breastfeed their children. I’m sure the mom in the picture knew she was going to expose herself to ridicule from some people, but I would imagine her point was to say, “look, I’m a normal person, I breastfeed, my kid is 3, get over it!” Why the heck do people need to ridicule? Is her breastfeeding her child hurting you in ANY way? Even at the ripe old age of 3 some kids still like to have close time with their parents. In some cases it is with mommy and the close time involves breastfeeding. Would Americans have such a difficult time with this if we weren’t such a sexualized society?
P.S. I formula fed….I’m not a breastfeeding nazi, just a person who doesn’t feel like they need to tell others how to parent.
Absolutely to each their own, but does she really let him feed at her breast, or does she pump? Does she think that Time used this to sensationalize and sell papers, and new that they were feeding into the so-called Mommy Wars, that the media likes to stir up from time to time? That’s what bothers me. The shot, the positioning, all make the child look older than 3…again, I lay that as intentional on Time’s part. Just my 2 cents, you have a right to raise your child any way you see fit but I think you need to be careful not to be used.