Remember the mom who took the mommy wars to the cover of TIME Magazine back in May with that photo of her toddler son breastfeeding while standing on a chair? Jamie Lynne Grumet is baaaaack! This time we get to see her breastfeeding her 4-year-old on the cover of an actual parenting magazine (but at least she let him lie down and get comfy). As if we really needed another shot of her breastfeeding?
Paired with another tagline clearly intended to rile women up: "Mom Enough to Speak Out for Attachment Parenting" (it's a take-off of TIME's incendiary "Are You Mom Enough" coverline), the photo on the cover of Pathways to Family Wellness is actually rather sweet. Mom Grumet lays with her husband wrapped around her, their youngest son at her breast, their oldest son peeking in from behind dad. If only this were the only shot of her we'd ever seen.
With magazine cover two, Jamie Lynne Grumet has gone from "breastfeeding advocate" to "woman who wants to make sure everyone gets a look-see at her breastfeeding." She's crossed a line that makes it hard for moms who support breastfeeding as a whole to defend her.
Because Jamie Lynne isn't "just" breastfeeding. She isn't "just" breastfeeding in public either. She's making the act of breastfeeding into a spectacle, splashing it on magazine covers, trying to make some sort of point about how fabulous she is.
But that's more or less the opposite of what moms who breastfeed in public are looking for, isn't it?
From what I can tell, breastfeeding moms are looking for acceptance. They're looking to fit in. They're looking, if you really think about it, to be ignored.
Moms simply want the ability to sit in a restaurant or a park or a courthouse or a library and feed their child without anyone saying anything, without anyone giving them dirty looks. The idea is for breastfeeding to be a non-issue, just a part of the daily grind. After all, it's a kid getting something to eat, right? What's so strange about that?
I sat with a breastfeeding mom on Friday night in a public space -- our local ice cream stand. I ate my ice cream. Her son ate his breast milk. And we carried on a conversation as if nothing unusual was going on. Because, well, it wasn't. Her son was hungry. He ate. I didn't stare at her chest because who has a conversation with someone while staring at their chest?!
That's what breastfeeding in public is all about: being able to function in society and being able to function as a mom, all at the same time. It's not about getting people to pay attention to the fact that you're breastfeeding. But that's just what Jamie Lynne Grumet seems to be all about.
Where do you draw the line between fighting for the right to breastfeed in public and actually making a spectacle of the fact that you're breastfeeding? Has Jamie Lynne Grumet crossed your line?
Image via Pathways to Family Wellness
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Comments 55
There's absolutely nothing wrong with a magazine showing moms breastfeeding and the fact that you think so shows what an issue YOU have. You don't seem to respect how utterly natural it is to bf. My only qualm is the fact that again, they are showing a situation of extended breastfeeding and calling it attachment parenting, which it is not :P
If you did not know his age would you have a problem with this picture? What difference does it make? Do you have an issue with a 3 to 4 year old drinking from a bottle?
Breastfeeding is normal and in early days as well as Biblical Days the age of weaning was somewhere after age 3 to 4. Whether she is breastfeeding or giving her baby a bottle or cup, what is the difference?This little guy is still getting covered with great immune factors since he is still breastfeeding. This mother's supply is probably low because she is feeding an older child. Research tells us the lower the milk supply the higher immune factors are that protect children from all sorts of things, especially those who might be in day care or school.
Sadly there are always people who feel they need to comment on about a mother breastfeeding no matter how old. I myself am tired of the "make the mothers who couldn't breastfeed feel guilty" line and of course in this article that was not your purpose and you did not say that but I give kudos to anyone who wants to support breastfeeding. It is hard enough for many mothers who want to breastfeed in this culture. We need pictures and constant reminders that this is normal behaviour and if this mother is not afraid to show her son breastfeeding, why to we even have to discuss age.
now her son i four, I heard breast milk after a year has no nutrients at all, sorry but I just don't get it, found more pics of her, sons and hubby Brian here, http://fandaily.info/?p=22336.
Jeanne, I adore you, but this bugs me.
Jamie did this second cover and article to get the correct angle that actual portrayed her real family values. She HATED the cover AND headline AND angle that TIME ran. She hated how detached the photo was (she thought that one was an outtake -- not even in the running for the cover!) and how they made her seem combative and aggressive. So this was like a redo, this was her way of saying, "This is what nursing a four year old REALLY is like, it's about snuggles, comfort, love..." It was a way of showing that unlike TIME tried to play it, people who nurse toddlers and preschoolers aren't doing it to make a point, to be "better than" anyone, and get her actual voice out there instead of the one TIME painted her with.
Miriam, breastmilk never loses nutrients. That's like saying spinach is no good if you're over 12. A healthy food never stops becoming a healthy food. That's a myth. Hope that helps!