Seriously, I don’t mind if you breastfeed your kid till grade school.
What I mind is the implication, on Time‘s cover this week, that if I choose to end my nursing relationship earlier than when the kid gets his driver’s permit, I am somehow not, in their words, “Mom Enough.”
Oh, I am Mom Enough. Mom Enough to have nursed three babies. Mom Enough to know not to be bitten by a baby. Mom Enough to know I’m in charge of my body, not my child. Mom Enough to have pumped milk by hand, yessiree.
And I am Mom Enough, and woman enough, and friend enough, not to judge my friends who did it differently, which was most of them. To feel for my friend who wanted so much to nurse and couldn’t and had to give up after eight agonizing weeks of physical and psychological pain. To feel for another who went through child-led weaning long past when she was ready herself. To empathize with the friend who never nursed because she wanted her boobs to be her own.
I have no issue with attachment parenting. If it works for you, gei gezuhnta heit (go in good health). What I have an issue with is a magazine fanning the flames of a Mommy War. We fellow moms should stick together, not Mommy War about which method of nutrition delivery makes us a better mother.
3 Comments
I do have a problem with the mother who allowed her 4 year old son have this picture taken! Can you imagine if one of our kids had a picture like this floating around as material for mean kids to use as taunting material? Worse than a naked baby bathtub picture.
I agree with you with all my bosom and soul. The picture is ridiculous and inflammatory. It pisses me off, because it is giving a sexy take to a very unsexy job. Feeding your child is work, not play. When your body is working to make milk to feed your child, it is not sexy (even if it looks sexy). When your body is leaking milk all over the front of your blouse because it’s time to eat even though the baby is no where near you – it is not sexy. When you push your boob and your pelvis into your young son, it is not sexy. Frankly, its creepy. Time needs to get over itself. We women struggle with family and work and community – no need to push our buttons on this issue.
I too agree with you all. I understand if you choose to breast feed until whatever age you and your child decide on but the cover is a bit creepy even for my far reaching ideas. I feel so bad for the poor boy on the cover because his Mom has set him up for a lifetime of some form of grief!