Picture of breastfeeding on magazine cover causes outrage in US

[melpomene]

CNN article

Babytalk, a US parenting magazine, put a picture of a breastfeeding baby on the cover, and received hundreds of letters complaining.

"'Gross, I am sick of seeing a baby attached to a boob,' wrote Lauren, a mother of a 4-month-old."

Another mother said that she shredded the magazine to avoid the risk of her 13 year old son seeing it.

Its not just mags though is it.

For some reason the majority of rappers insist on having some womans chest wobbling about on display in their videos along with their behinds too,
thats ok
but feeding a baby with them, well its just sick.
Obviously.

Will have to parp myself I think.

I think that is a beautiful picture, absoultly lovely.

I agree CharlieCat

Yellow - i was sticking with magazines due to the thread.
Getting into the mind of rappers.... no thanks...

Love the picture and have emailed to say so.
It would be fantastic to have that picture of Lucy as a billboard campaign - even better if there were pics of a few more famous bf-ing mums too.
I do work for an American company and was over there last week. Have to say, everyone just presumed that I was breastfeeding (dd is 4m) and they were very considerate about me having to express during work time. Kind stewardesses on American Airlines also made sure seat next to me was empty so I had privacy to pump on the plane!

Nice, valid and rounded comment Jackstini.

The thing is - and a lot of people have said this on the thread so dont think I am picking on anyone in particular - we mostly all saw the show on tv a few months ago about extended breastfeeding (I am using this as an example, not a point of debate)

there were English people on the show who said to other English people they strongly disaproved - 'Bottle fed and strong as an ox' etc. People on MN who are pro-extended BFing would be very upset and justifiably so if people in other countries saw that and said that was the view of 'THE English'

There are good and bad in every country, and differing views. No one wants to be judges based on massive generalisations.

I have a best friend who lives in America, she BF's, and like you said Jackstini, she has complete support. Places she regularly goes have 'Nursing Moms' rooms with glider rocking chairs, tv's, drinks machines, magazines etc. I have yet to see that anywhere here, but I dont critisise the country for that. I am just happy for her that she has it and grateful for the good things I have here.

I hate any sort of superior attitude - we can all poke holes in everyones culture to make ourselves feel better but in the end all it does is make ours look ill informed.

Where did you find Babytalk's e-mail address?

I bow down before you Eenywifemum...

i blush with inferiority at my puny comments compared to yours

hehe Sal its ok no need to bow!

Well I did anyhow!

Where are people getting Babytalk's e-mail address from?
I want to e-mail them too!!

sorry i didn't mean to generalize about Americans. I really meant a specific group of Americans, as represented by the kind of comments quoted in the article, but agree you get that mentality all over the place and not just in USA. So many in the UK also are very uptight about that sort of thing, agree. But there is a kind of puritanical movement growing which seems to involve other worrying elements. But many, many, Americans not like that at all, i'm sorry if i suggested there weren't.

Oh, fgs.

I can't even get angry about it any more.

It's just so STUPID of people to mind this.

Mind you, 75% of people must've thought this was OK - only a quarter of responses were negative. 25% too many, of course, but still - better than the other way round.

Email address for comments on the article is
letters at babytalk dot com and put in the subject box 'Breastfeeding August 2006 Cover'

So, one stupid woman was worried her 13 year old might see a photo of a boob and a baby attached to it?

Well, judging by the amount of porn I know teenagers that age have access to, how would the stupid cow like to tell her son that boobs are not just for men to fondle - how about telling him what boobs are really for: BREASTFEEDING

It is a sorry sorry tale. Even an intelligent feamle friend of mine recently said to me that by bf-ing my son for this long (DS is 2.1 years) I was sure to set him up for a boob fixation To which I said, well, let me tell you something really amazing, ALL men have a boob fixation, even the ones who were bottle fed from the minute they were born !

I feel so sad and guilty that one day my son will adore women's boobs and stare at them because he has suckled at his mother's nice, large, soft warm boobs for so long

thanks Jack for the e-mail address - sending one now!

tiktok --

2004 CDC figures from the National Immunization Survey in the US quotes rates of
6 Months 36.2%
9 Months 23.7%
12 Months 17.8%
18 Months 5.4%

The 2000 Infant Feeding Survey in the UK [BTW, was there a 2005 survey?] quotes
6 Months 21%
9 Months 13%

My comment about extended bf rates was extrapolated from the fact that the US rate at 12 months was significantly higher than the UK rate at 9 months. I don't, as you point out, have any UK statistics to compare directly with the US 12 month and 18 month figures.

There may be some horrendous irregularity with the methodology behind the CDC/NIS figures, I suppose, but as an averagely informed reader I thought they sounded comparable in reliability to the UK figures.

LeahE

nice stats

Thanks, Leah.....tres interessant

Those figures are higher than I last heard, but that's a fairly recent survey so maybe bf is going up there, as well