UPDATE
Jamie Lynn Grumet who appeared on the cover of Time Magazine has appeared on NBC’s Today Show:
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In a surprise to no-one, this front cover of Time Magazine has gone viral and has sparked conversations around the world. Let’s dive in.
It’s certainly not something you see every day. Not publicly, anyway, The critics of the cover were swift and furious, calling the magazine ‘expoloitative and extreme’ in its portrayal of breastfeeding and mothers.
But the article is about more than just breastfeeding. It’s about a parenting style globally referred to as ‘attachment parenting‘. It is as it sounds: keep the baby with you constantly. Parent by the child’s side.
You could say it’s one of the more divisive parenting issues.
Here’s what attachment parenting advises:
– Keep babies and even young children in slings close to your body.
– Let babies and young children sleep in the parental bed.
– Breastfeed children for years, preferably, to increase bonding.
The article begins:
“Joanne Beauregard is nothing so much as she is a mother. When she and her husband had trouble conceiving, Joanne quit her job as an accountant to focus full time on getting pregnant. When she did, she chose to give birth at home, without pain medication. Then, for months, Beauregard sat on the couch in her Denver-area living room, nursing her infant from sunup to sundown. She nursed much of the night as well, since the baby slept in bed with Beauregard and her husband Daniel, a software engineer.”
We then switch focus to the mother on the front cover, Jamie Lynn Grumet and her son Aram.
“It’s really warm. It’s like embracing your mother, like a hug. You feel comforted, nurtured and really, really loved. I had so much self-confidence as a child, and I know it’s from that.”
Grumet said being able to breastfeed [her other son] Samuel after his adoption helped comfort him following the trauma he had faced.
“I didn’t realise how much it would help my attachment to him.
“When his English improved, because the connection was there, he didn’t do it as much.
Time notes of the ‘mother guilt’ scenario:
“A third category includes mothers caught in the middle. These parents try to achieve Sears’ ideal of nursing, baby wearing and co-sleeping but fall short for some reason and find themselves immobilized by their seeming parental inadequacy. They suffer from what two New York City parenting consultants call “post-traumatic Sears disorder.”
It’s a hot topic, that’s for sure.
What do you think of the Time Magazine cover? How would you describe your parenting style?
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Top Comments
I was delighted to read about Attachment Parenting and realised that I did it without even knowing it about ..!
To each their own I guess, but I do object to the title. I am a parent who has struggled with breastfeeding: poor attachment, nipple shields, bleeding, dermatitis on the nipple, mastitis. I give my baby a bottle in private because I feel embarrassed feeding in front of other mums who can breastfeed. The implication of not being mother-enough to feed past 12 months is a little upsetting... Is it really a question of being sufficiently maternal? Ability to breastfeed aside, I think I'm a wonderful mum.
Please hold your head up high, you have no reason to be embarassed and feed your baby in private. Screw what everyone else thinks. I, like you had the same struggles with feeding my first baby, and I did not enjoy the first few weeks at all, but with baby number two, I thought no way was I putting myself under same stress again, so when she didn't attach after a first few trys in hospital, straight onto bottle, and she thrived and so did I! I don't regret for a second what I did with baby no. 2. Breastfeeding always isn't the wonderful thing it's cracked up to be.....I know of many babies who have taken a long time to form an attachment to dad or another carer, if they are not fed expressed bottles and if a mother's diet is poor, thats not good for bub and certainly in that case formula would for sure be a better choice. I'm sure you are a wonderful mum!
To Meg and Bec, 95% of Norwegian women are still breastfeeding at 3 months, likewise mothers in many other countries where the advice is appropriate. When things don't work in Norway, where such mothers are really in the minority, they say
Translated:
•To be a good mother is not the same as to be a breastfeeding mother
•To be a good mother has many various qualities than only to produce milk
•Parents without milk producing breasts can also give a baby love and warmth (amongst others, fathers)
The Norwegians advise new mothers to take their babies to bed at night and fall asleep with them there. This is a beautiful booklet put out by their health department http://www.helsedirektorate...