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This week's issue of Time magazine features a mom breastfeeding her son who looks old enoughto pour himself a glass of milk. The boy, just shy of 4 years old,is standing on a chair to reach the breast falling out of hismom's tank top. The pose makes the point that this boy is toobig and old to be held in his mother's arms but he can stillbreastfeed. Shocking? Time clearly picked this provocative cover image to sell magazines andattract media attention. The actual story inside the magazine istitled The Man Who Remade Motherhood and it's about Dr. Bill Sears, an internationally recognizedpediatrician who's known as the leader behind the attachmentparenting movement that calls for extended breastfeeding (as wellas co-sleeping and baby-wearing). But the grey-haired doctor isn't pictured on the cover. JamieLynne Grumet, a 26-year-old California mom, and her breast-suckingson made the cover instead. Makes sense from a need-to-sell-magazines standpoint. A mothernursing a preschooler is more arresting and bound to spark aheated debate around the topic of extended breastfeeding. And the cover has been successful in doing that. Today, every momblogger seems to be asking, Is breastfeeding a 3-year-old freakishor natural? My personal feelings about the cover image are conflicted. A partof me loves this bold photo that promotes breastfeeding, thebest-known way to feed a baby. The image seems to be blazing trailsfor women by helping prudish Americans become more comfortable withthe sight of a nursing mom. We live in a country where bus driverskick nursing moms off buses, and maybe Time is helping stop that ridiculousness. What's more, the image gives U.S. mother's permissionto nurse well past that widely accepted 1-year point. While mothersin many countries openly breastfeed their toddlers, here in Americawe're squeamish about extended nursing and moms often feedtheir 2-year-olds behind closed doors to avoid disapproving looks(I did with my son). This image challenges that thinking andinvites breastfeeding moms of older kids to come out of the closet.Suddenly extended nursing seems cool! But another part of me hates this image because I fear that it willput yet more pressure on moms to achieve unobtainable goals. Whilethe American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that moms breastfeeduntil 12 months , only 44 percent of moms make it to 6 months. And the gorgeous,thin blonde, standing proudly with her hands on her hips on the Time cover seems to be challenging moms to go longer. "Girls, youcan do more!," she seems to be saying in a super annoying,competitive way. Moms are already overwhelmed with societal pressures that leavethem feeling like failures if they don't make their own babyfood, get their kids to bed on time, and start touring preschoolsbefore the first birthday. Do moms really need the added pressureto nurse for three years? For many of us, getting a child to latch to the breast in the firstplace is a challenge and nursing becomes more about chapped,cracked, bleeding nipples than sweet cuddly moments. And somebabies don't want to continue nursing. A few weeks before mydaughter turned 1, she started refusing my breast. I remembersobbing as she screamed out at me and slapped my chest while Itried to force her mouth on my breast. I wanted her to make it tothe 1-year mark and felt frustrated when it didn't happen. Iwould have felt even worse if my mind had been set on 3 years. Read more: Attachment parenting: Is it imprisoning?. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China IR Interactive Whiteboard , China Interactive Teaching System for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Multi Touch Screens.
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