Time Magazine Cover

So I saw the cover a week or so ago and have seen much ado about it on my internet sites and on FB. At the time I reserved judgement. I have to say it was a shocking cover was my first thought and of course second was probably how old is that kid and thirdly I probably thought yay, breastfeeding. After having some time to mull over the cover and responses I have more to say. First I will address just the photo.

The photo was provocative. Of course that's everything a magazine wants in a cover, right? It was disturbing and I couldn't put my finger on WHY. I think extended bfing is good. I mostly think it's up to each person and their child to decide for how long they would like to breastfeed. So now why did the cover just rub me wrong? Well, in all honesty I couldn't put my finger on it until I read a response or blog somewhere that helped me get a grasp on what I felt. First there is the Mom. She's all blonde and perky and skinny jeans. Most Moms I know don't quite fit in that category. Maybe I don't know the right Moms or maybe that's misrepresentative of MOST of the Mom population. Then there is her face and where she's looking. Most women when bfing (at any age I assume) look at their child. They touch their child..holding them, cradling them. It's called attachment parenting...not detached parenting which is how she strikes me in the pose. I say the pose because if she truly practices attachment parenting then I'm sure she's not detached. Someone says she looks defiant. Yes, she does. She's defending her choice though. I get it..somewhat. The chair makes it worse. I know a couple of Moms who extended breastfeed who said they have used the chair but it's not a common way to breastfeed. It makes the boy look older. And the way the kid isn't touching her. It's just a pic that doesn't accurately portray it at all.

Here is some of the other photos that were taken at the shoot. There is one of the same woman and boy which much more portrays attachment parenting but wasn't shocking enough I'm sure.


Then I bought the magazine when I was grocery shopping at Smith's and I was only paragraphs into it and I had a problem..well, a couple of problems. I have a problem with this line.

"Attachment parenting dogma also says that every baby's wimper is a plea for help and that no infant should ever be left to cry."

Okay, putting wimper in the sentence is going a little far. I don't think a wimper counts as a cry. Maybe it's how YOU define attachment parenting but I think that's being a little picky. It makes it sound....ya know.

This line makes me angrier: "...prevalence of this philosophy has shifted mainstream American parenting toward a style that's more about parental devotion and sacrifice than about raising self-sufficient kids."
I'm pretty sure you just insulted attachment parents and their children by saying they aren't "self-sufficient".  Which I'm gonna call bullshit on.

I haven't read the article any further but I will. So far this is not unbiased journalism at all. Even the pic AND TITLE are meant to be inflammatory.

What I think about extended breastfeeding: Whatever floats your boat! I'm not you. I'm not your kids parent. I don't think it's disgusting or awful or child abuse. I think you should wean when you want to. I don't know yet what I'll do with Ezra. Right now my goal is a year. I'd like to do it two but let's stick with a year and then we'll see. After two if I feel comfortable and he does..who knows, we may keep going. I certainly won't let anyone else's thoughts on the subject decide for me. I don't think there is a milestone that screams wean me like..when they get teeth or when they can sign for it or when they can ask for it or when they can walk. I won't be looking for these things to decide for me or a person.

As a ff (formula feeding) parent I would have probably disagreed with this pic and extended breastfeeding. But being a ebf parent now...I'm different. I changed my mind. Shocker! I'm allowed to do that. I'm allowed to broaden my horizons. I have met Moms online who bf without covers and suddenly that doesn't look awful either. I've talk to women who extended breastfeed and seen pics and that doesn't look like it's condemning them to hell either. I don't think ff Moms should be allowed an opinion on the pic. Until you've bf then I don't think you can look at the pic the same way as a bf Mom. Having been both I feel like I can say that in the least hypocritical way.

I will finish the article and may write some overall thoughts on it when I'm done. I think I'm gonna buy that Dr. Sears book too.

On to brighter, happier subjects...I have FOUR new dipes coming. The three I mentioned in a pp (previous post) and now I have a WAHM dipe coming that I'm gonna test for her. I'm pretty excited about it. It's a minky. I love minky material. I have the smallest baby that's testing her dipes so I wanna make sure and give her comprehensive and honest feedback. I met her on my cding group. Here is the dipe (it's so cute with puppies on it!). The wipe solution that I was using is not good for Ezra though. Yes, we're using cloth wipes too. It was easy to do that since we're already cding. They just go in the diaper pail with the dipes and wash with them and dry with them and they are just as easy to carry on the go. I just pre-wet a few and stick them in a wipe container or plastic bag.  It makes his bum sore so that went in the trash. This was the solution I used: Lusa Organics Baby Wipe Juice. For now we're just gonna use water. I may get some Dr. Bronner's soap (I saw some at GNC) and use just a drop of it in the water eventually. I put the wipes (when we're home) in an old wipe container with some water. I need to find my wipe warmer and I will put them in that I think. Someone mentioned using a spray bottle and I hadn't thought of that, duh. What a great idea! I might do that soon. t was thinking of using Dr. Bronner's on my CD's too but I need to do more research on that. I heard some bad things about Rockin' Green today so now I'm hesitant to use that. So far my BumGenius powder I bought is still going strong and doing that job. I was also thinking of trying Charlie's Soap.