Time magazine image of breastfeeding

[banana87]

Apparently this image is kicking up a hot debate in the US.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/time-magazine-cover-showing-mother-828267

I really wish people would educate themselves about the benefits of extended breastfeeding before proclaiming its child molestation. Utterly crap.

So those of us that have had c/s aren't normal because we haven't done what we were designed to do? So those of us with IVF babies aren't normal,gay couples aren't "normal" because they aren't doing what they were designed to do?

What total rubbish.

no one has said that! if you have a c section you have still given birth imo, if you need help to get pregnant then why wouldnt you still be normal, you needed medical help, people need medical help for lots of reasons that doesnt make them abnormal.

as someone who was lucky enough to conceive easily and have easy pregnancies and births, i consider myself just that, LUCKY and it doesnt make me more normal, or anyone that needs help less normal, why the hell should it? I am donating eggs next month, to give to a couple that need them to have children, i dont consider the people i am donating to 'abnormal' they are just people that need a bit of help, that i am fortunate enough to be able to give.

as i said thumbwitch put it better than i did :)

I just can't believe people have an issue with me pissing in public when it's so natural.

I kind of like the image. It Has been chosen to stir debate and controversy but that may be a good thing. Tbh my first thought was how good she looked. This probably makes me incurably shallow but I do think many people associate bfing of any duration with sandal wearing, straggly grey haired hippies. Not that I have anything aganst said hippies but I do think that if bfing was seen as being something that good looking people do the take up would increase.

MrsH - you are extrapolating in a completely illogical manner. And taking unnecessary offence where no cause was mentioned, let alone intended!

thankyou again thubmwitch :)

oh look can we call bingo yet, bfeeding likened to weeing now... it will be having a poo next...

haven't we had the pooing one already, 5mad? I thought I saw it somewhere upthread, but it might have been in the comments of one of the linked blogs...

HOUSE!

mrsH I think you are going over the top - perhaps you need to examine why you are so angry (and illogical IMO) about this.

And to lots of other people:

When you are are parent its not all about you and what you want any more. Most mothers I know give up BFing up when its a a good time for mother and child.

And people who refuse to take advice about how to parent have got to be arrogant as well as ignorant. There has been so much good advice coming out of research in the last 10/15 years, you'd be a fool not to try and learn from other people's mistakes, whether you choose to take it via a money making 'guru' or not.

The first 4 or so pages of this were excellent, the posts were well written and though provoking (for me). There is now lots of ranting going on. And people who don't know what they are talking about - 3rd world countries breastfeed for longer as a form of contraception???

Hothead, I don't think it's that modern - ladies of the higher classes were not encouraged to bf their babies, they were given over to wetnurses instead - has happened for centuries.
Vague recollections from reading historical books that this included Imperial China, as well as various European countries.

Oops! Sorry, that isn't relevant to early weaning - got confused!

Think the picture looks really unnatural and the poor kid will be very about it when he is older. Not really fair on him is it?

I B/F my DD until she was 4.6 yrs and my DS until his sixth birthday - even then I had to make the break by getting away for a few days hols with a friend

I'd like to get a copy and read the article as I'm interested in attachment parenting and what they have to say to go with this striking image. Good for the Mum in this picture for encouraging other Mums to B/F and for normalising natural term B/Fing too - even though I guess a more natural pose could have been shown

Just thinking my DS probably wouldn't even have needed the chair

Sorry estya if I based my parented on following every bit of research and advice continuously churned out I'd have 3 very screwed up kids.

I don't need to constantly read stuff to show me how to parent thanks I have confidence in my own abilities.Sorry but I think relying on other people to show you how to parent shows massive insecurity which can't be good and is a modern thing.

I just parent and I do it my way which includes deciding how long to breastfeed-that is normal to me.

I think to say that ebf is normal means that it is normal for us. It's not some wierd freaky thing - it just feels natural and is a normal part of our everyday life. It doesn't mean that those who don't bf are abnormal. But those of us who do may not be typical but we are normal.

Once being gay was seen as wierd and abnormal. Now we, or at least most of us, realise that it is normal to be gay, but equally it's not abnormal to not be gay! There are various kinds of normal in this case. So with feeding it is normal to bf a 3 year old, but it's also normal and more common to not.

FWIW, I showed DS1 this picture earlier and he didn't really understand what it was about, and once I had explained it to him he looked like this . He doesn't remember being BF or that I BF his brother and he was entirely nonplussed. In fact he mock BF for a moment and said, 'oh it's OK, I don't need a chair' However had I done this and published it I think his reaction would have been

can I ask a question please?
it is genuine as I don't get and would like to.
why do people still BF a child that is able to eat food?

Actually I thought that upper class women were encouraged to have wet nurses so that they could have children more often and ensure succession. Maybe I got that wrong?

Hothead- many people stop BFing their child before it has developed a will of its own and probably can't imagine a situation in which breastfeeding might be led by the child.

2shoes - can't answer for anyone else, only for myself. I continued to feed DS after he could eat food because it was good for his immune system/health, because it comforted him, because it helped him to sleep and because he liked it. Gradually it became less and less - the last couple of months it was only a night-time feed, possibly 2 if he woke in the night - and then we stopped when it wasn't really needed any more by him.

I don't think there's anything wrong with breastfeeding a 3 year old, though I personally wouldn't.

I feel the photo is needlessly exploitative though.