TIME magazine and breast feeding a 4 year old

I find it interesting that few people are looking at the fact this 3 year old is now on the cover of a magazine and might incur more HARM from people making fun of him when he gets older....Screw the breast feeding, whatever floats your boat. However, I find the mother to not think ahead about the position she had now put her son in.

Kids are MEAN. They will make fun of him. Probably not because of the BF, but because of the pictures of him BFing...I'm just saying...

As someone who was bullied for being 'different', kids will use whatever ammo they can. She just put her kid in the spotlight...

Pump it and put it in a cup...you wouldn't keep giving a 3-7 year old milk in a bottle

Agreed! People would have a problem with a child using a bottle at those ages but have no problem with a 3 Year old being breastfed????

Pumping is a great way to make a mom *feel* like a cow, so maybe that's why more people find it acceptable??? :flowerforyou:

Additionally, from a nutritional standpoint, it's totally unnecessary. Mammals nurse their young until they are able to receive adequate nutrition from solid foods. Once a child (or puppy, or kitten, etc) is old enough to eat real solid food, there is no need for breast milk any longer, as they can now receive all necessary nutrients via food sources. So, in short, it is completely nutritionally UNNECESSARY to breastfeed a child once they are able to eat a diet completely consisting of solid food (not baby food, but actual food---so really, probably about 2 years old).

Yup.

I'm sure there is plenty of info to show how very beneficial it is but not NECESSARY. It is not completely necessary to breastfeed a child once they can receive proper nutrition from food. Also, a woman's breast milk is only as good as what she consumes food-wise. That's were a parent's role comes into play to make sure they are providing nutritious foods for their children--something many of us fall down on. Beneficial? Absolutely. I'm all about breastfeeding, and although I couldn't for very long last time (trust me, I tried EVERYTHING and couldn't produce enough to go longer than 3 months), I'd love to breastfeed until my next child is about 2. I mean, it's probably beneficial to drink breast milk until we're like 15, but 100% necessary? Not at all. If it were actually necessary to breastfeed until a child is 3 or 4, don't you think more people would be doing it? I think there is quite a grey area there from when it stops being about nutrition for the child and starts being about the mother not wanting to stop.

While it may not be vital for their survival after they are able to consume solids I think referring it to as totally unnecessary dismisses the fact that it's still supporting healthy brain development and helping build the immue system and tons of other benefits. Maybe I read too much into what I quoted from you above and if I did, I'm sorry. I got hit with the it's "unnecessary" after the age of one from several family members when I was still nursing my youngest, so it stung when I read that. Didn't mean to project my past assocation about that agruement onto you.

Sex =/= breast feeding on any planet. You can go an entire lifetime without sex (although I wouldn't want to). you cannot go an entire lifetime without eating. I really think that equating the two is quite ignorant.

I think you missed the point - OR, I took the posters comment that you quoted differently.

You are entitled to one opinion. Someone else is entitled to their opinion. Respect the fact that you shoudl agree to disagree. One you start name calling (or about as close as you can to it in your case), you lose the argument. Fundamentals of debate.

Possibly, but the fact remains that she liken breast feeding in public to having sex in publc. She then used that to support why she doesn't want to explain to her child that another mother is feeding her child, and I don't see how these things even remotely relate. Feeding my son when he was hungry was a necessary action, I've never found it necessary to drop trou in in the middle of the mall and get it on. It's nice when places offer confortable areas to sit an nurse, but when they don't they shouldn't expect someone to feed their child in the restroom either. No one wants to eat their steak while listening to someone else take a dump in the stall next door.

I was only breastfed twice (due to complications) and somehow I ended up with an amazing relationship with my mother who is also my best friend.

Maybe the quality of a parent/child relationship has nothing to do with breastfeeding?

...Or maybe I'm destined to kill her.

Additionally, from a nutritional standpoint, it's totally unnecessary. Mammals nurse their young until they are able to receive adequate nutrition from solid foods. Once a child (or puppy, or kitten, etc) is old enough to eat real solid food, there is no need for breast milk any longer, as they can now receive all necessary nutrients via food sources. So, in short, it is completely nutritionally UNNECESSARY to breastfeed a child once they are able to eat a diet completely consisting of solid food (not baby food, but actual food---so really, probably about 2 years old).

Yup.

I'm sure there is plenty of info to show how very beneficial it is but not NECESSARY. It is not completely necessary to breastfeed a child once they can receive proper nutrition from food. Also, a woman's breast milk is only as good as what she consumes food-wise. That's were a parent's role comes into play to make sure they are providing nutritious foods for their children--something many of us fall down on. Beneficial? Absolutely. I'm all about breastfeeding, and although I couldn't for very long last time (trust me, I tried EVERYTHING and couldn't produce enough to go longer than 3 months), I'd love to breastfeed until my next child is about 2. I mean, it's probably beneficial to drink breast milk until we're like 15, but 100% necessary? Not at all. If it were actually necessary to breastfeed until a child is 3 or 4, don't you think more people would be doing it? I think there is quite a grey area there from when it stops being about nutrition for the child and starts being about the mother not wanting to stop.

While it may not be vital for their survival after they are able to consume solids I think referring it to as totally unnecessary dismisses the fact that it's still supporting healthy brain development and helping build the immue system and tons of other benefits. Maybe I read too much into what I quoted from you above and if I did, I'm sorry. I got hit with the it's "unnecessary" after the age of one from several family members when I was still nursing my youngest, so it stung when I read that. Didn't mean to project my past assocation about that agruement onto you.
There are a lot of organizations that tend to be authorities on the subject that disagree with what you stated.

No, I TOTALLY agree that it is great for brain development and immune system support, 100% agree on the benefits. I just mean to say that by about 2 years, a child can be completely and totally healthy without it anymore as long as they are getting adequate nutrition from food sources. And again, as long as a child is happy and healthy, no complaints over here! In fact, just as anecdotal evidence, I was breastfed for almost a year as a baby, while my sister had terrible acid reflux and could only be breastfed for about a month. I almost NEVER get sick. I mean really, the only time I've ever used a sick day at work was when my son caught a stomach virus at school, I don't even get seasonal allergies (and in central Texas, EVERYONE gets seasonal allergies). My sister, on the other hand, is sick allllll the time. She catches every cold she could possibly catch. Had her tonsils removed by the time she was 15 because she got strep so much. I don't think that's a coincidence

It's not the picture that bothers me, it's the, "Are you MOM ENOUGH?" tagline that goes with it.

I breastfed my son for two and a half years. I feel that it's a private matter and I disapprove of the way it's "shown-off" and made into a public exhibit by the media and others.

They are posing for a picture. I'm sure she doesn't breastfeed him like that on a regular basis. I watched that babies movie about babies around the world and was surprised when I saw the mother from Africa feeding her child in an upright position. I had always fed my kids with them inclining, but I could see that doing it the other way may allow for more freedom to do something with hands. Which is one of the issues of breastfeeding, it can be really time consuming. I've nursed both my kids until about 2.5, my son is coming upon weaning time.
As far as what other people think, I think our society needs to get over what the majority (or the loud and critical few) thinks about things, because frankly, the majority and the shrill can be very immature. We seem to be a culture that cares so much about what other people think that we can't make our own choices and be individuals. It takes strong people standing up for what they think is right to change things. To each there own, and who cares what the bullies, cool kids, and otherwise loud mouths think.