Thursday, May 10, 2012

Are you mom enough?

Have you seen the Time magazine cover, with the caption "Are you Mom enough?"  It has sparked a large debate.



Personally, I do NOT like the picture - it bothers me. Not because I am against extended breastfeeding - because I am not. I am very much PRO extended breastfeeding. Kyle is almost 21 mths and still nurses occasionally - I thought we were done, but it must have just been a nursing strike. Sometimes he nurses 1x day, other days he doesn't nurse at all - I am letting him lead the way.

Before I had kids, I really did think that by 12mths, kids should be weaned. It just seemed WRONG that a child nurse longer than that. Then I got pregnant, and started to research and found out all the pros (for mother AND child) in regards to nursing and extended nursing. While I personally won't continue nursing until he is 4 years old ( I imagine I will lead the weaning process if he is still nursing at 2.5) but that doesn't mean I think it is wrong for others.

I also don't have anything against public nursing - however you choose to feed your child is a personal choice, and should be accepted. Why is it ok to bottle feed a baby in public, but not by breast? Really - you hardly see anything and there are many low cut, revealing shirts that show more boob than a mom nursing her baby. I have nursed in almost every public situation you can imagine - in an airport, on a plane, in the middle of Disney World - heck, I even threw him on the boob at church in the middle of his Christening because he was hungry - and you know what - no one even knew until I told them.

I also don't have problems with pictures - I had nursing photo's taken of Kyle and I - and I will gladly post them and share them with people - they are on the blog, and I will post one below.




Now that I have had my say - I will get back to the picture. When I look at this picture - it makes me feel like it was taken to bait people. It makes me feel that this scenario is about daring people to comment on it, instead of the bond/nutrition aspect for mother and child. It reminds me of a child pulling a chair up to the counter to watch their parent cook - and does not properly portray a mother/child nursing relationship.

As for the caption of the photo - that gets me too. Again, I think it is there to spark debate - and it has done that. It hasn't even hit shelves yet and people are outraged over it.  I don't like the caption because women that attempted to breastfeed but were unable to may feel bad about themselves - and they shouldn't. I think it is putting women that chose NOT to breastfeed in a bad light. It doesn't matter how your child is fed - as long as they have the love of their family. Bottle/Breast/Formula - shouldn't make a difference.

And, lastly - this is just another way that the media gets in there to help parents judge other parents.

16 comments:

  1. You are right it was meant to spark debate and get people buying magazines. And it worked!

    And I appreciate that so many of us can recognize this for what it is. Let's stand together against it not each other

    ReplyDelete
  2. I 100% respect breastfeeding mothers. Actually, correctly put, I idolize them. The dedication they have and the strength is astounding. As you read in my article, being a Mom who wasn't an avid breastfeeder, my opinions are definitely different compared to someone who did and does breastfeeding. I struggled too much with it and always felt low on myself for not sticking with it. The way they've portrayed long term breast feeding definitely irked me. They truly have stirred the pot a lot for many Moms, both breastfeeders and non.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think society puts too much pressure on moms and no matter what choice you make (formula or breast) your bound to get flack from someone

      Delete
  3. Beautiful pictures of you and your son!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I share your view. I am not against extended nursing but the picture isn't even about that. It's for shock value and before the article even hit stands, it was all over the place. They were successful in what they set out to do. No one is even thinking about the content of the article but the photo heading the article.

    And yes, you're pics are beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So true! Let's see 'em use your pictures next ;) Thanks for sharing! Read my piece at LadyMama.org, would love to hear your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks so much for stopping by - heading over to read your thoughts!

      Delete
  6. Breastfeeding in itself does not offend me, I breastfed my daughter. It is natural and normal. What is not natural and normal is to see a child that old nursing. By this age he is getting everything he needs from a healthy diet. I think by at least two years old they should be weaned!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't mind seeing a child that old nursing (if you go over to africa it is NORMAL to still be nursing at that age) it's just the fact of how the picture was taken - did you see any of the other cover options? Had they chosen one of those, it wouldn't have bothered me at all

      thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. I agree completely with you and I also blogged about this today.

    That said, the photograph did not offend me. Time created this in order to cause a debate, but it's one that needs to be had. The fact that people STILL get upset by the site of nursing mother's is crazy to me. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. are you in the states? in Canada, nursing is more acceptable in public (we actually have laws in place that allow a mother to nurse her child ANYWHERE she chooses) - still have people getting offended by it, but not like in the states.

      I agree that public nursing needs to be more acccepted - I just think they could have chosen a picture that depicted the mother/child nursing relationship better

      Delete
  8. exactly, it was bait. and it worked. but it also made SO MANY of us moms REALLY ANGRY!!

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from my readers, feel free to leave me a comment! (Comment Moderation is enabled, it will be published after approval)