Jeez lady, cut the cord already.

My reply to this has nothing to do with science or nutrition but I think it's pretty creepy. The kid looks old enough to be thinking "wow, mom has really nice tits". Then again maybe he won't have attraction to boobs the rest of us have later in life. Either way I think it's sad.

I don't know what the cut off is, I'm sure there are enough parents on the board to set an acceptable age range for weaning.

Working in the AG industry I know that many farmers raising calves will wean them nearly immediately and this seems to produce healthy stock so I'm thinking this is more to promote close family relationships but again, I think its over the top.

 

I think there's no way in hell that photo doesn't follow him through junior high. Hell, *I* want to kick his ass. I think that doe in the headlights, oh-you-caught-me look, says it all. Poor bastard. WALLOW IN YOUR SHAME. His father should also get his Prius driving ass kicked. Look at those two. Tell me a Prius isn't involved.

That smug look on her face fucking gets me. That's the worst part. She thinks she's one step closer to saving the world; deserving all the praise of modern women everywhere. I pray this kid grows up to get arrested for stealing an elderly woman's panties just so that smug shithead mother can't say, "Well *IIIIIIIII* breastfed my kid until he was 17 and now he's in *YAAAAAAAAAAALE*."

This picture makes me hate the fucking world. So, mission accomplished Time. You wanted a visceral reaction. You got it. Another nail in the coffin for real journalism, another nail from a somewhat reputable publication. Jesus titty sucking Christ.

Edit: Where's Rose of Sharon when you need her?

 

heh, mommmy makes your penis lactate.


If I was his play mate I would remind him that him mommy always tells him to share.


I get such a kick out of these clingy moms that can't allow their babies to grow up. The main argument is that it is biologically good for the kid, and breast milk is healthier for them, and I won't argue that, but you see there a things these days called glasses, and a pump. Use them, stop using your children for attention.

This kid will be called "momma's boy" forever. Anytime he argues the fact you pull out the magazine, I think a good plan is to make t-shirts now to sell to all the guys in his frat later.

 

My wife and I have two children. Before we had our first one, she intended to breast feed for 6 months to a year, which is pretty standard I think. But it was a pretty miserable experience for her, and she stopped after about four months. With our second kid she stopped after two months. Once she stopped, she became much more pleasant to deal with. She felt guilty for not breast feeding because of the nutritional advantages that are shoved down new mothers' throats.

She had to deal with the lactation experts (yes, these are real people) way more than I did, but they really creeped me out. They were cult like, and made mom's that didn't breastfeed feel like they were doing a disservice to their kid.

My take is that mom's should do whatever makes them comfortable as far as breastfeeding goes. But it should stop after the kid is a year old. If they want to put and give it to the kid that way, that is fine. But it seems strange to have a kid that is old enough to walk and talk sucking on his/her mom's titty.

 

When he made his exit, the kid had to spend a couple weeks in an isolette, and short of flopping her tits through the little window (which he managed to pee out of once), the little lady couldn't breast feed him, and had trouble keeping up with a pump they gave her. She's a;so not the most well endowed woman (my hands/mouth can get around them, good enough), so he went to being on formula full time after about a month or so.

Now, I have four younger siblings and a multitude of younger cousins (yeah I guess I'm a hillbilly to some degree), so I've grown up around breastfeeding mothers. Where a great deal of people would get all uncomfortable in a public situation, I wouldn't give it a second thought. It's not exactly a turn on for me either, and two of my aunts started this business, so I'm well aware how people get weirded out.

With that background, all I have to say about the cover is this: What the hell is the point? It grabs attention, now what? As someone who's never going to be a Mother the rule I'd go for is this: if they're old enough to ask for it, then they're too old to be breast fed. Jesus, I think if they're old enough to stand on their own, then they're too old.
What's worse is that indicated by the caption is that this is meant to be a sign of 'ultimate motherhood' which is a callous notion. From experience I know that a lot of mothers can't breastfeed for very long, or at least have great difficulty with it.

Don't they though? We attended a couple parenting classes and it's like a fucking cult. Honestly I think that because of those people, some mothers just give up because they can't do it as perfect as they make it seem.

EDIT 2.0: It may be telling that we dropped out of those 'parenting classes.' Also if you go to that site, you can see a picture of my Aunt and Uncle (in one of his rare sober moments), and then another that includes their nine (9) children, with the eldests' bride (now separated). I love them, but they might as well be mormons.

 

I wonder what her husband's opinion is now that her tits are completely ruined by that greedy little fuck-trophy.
On the other hand, my mom still calls me "sammy" and buys the beer I like when I come over for dinner while my Dad gets PBR.

 

After a rough start for the first three weeks, my wife and son finally figured the breast feeding thing out and have been at it for 4 months. We hope to keep it going for a full year since it frankly is better on all counts than formula, but given how hard it was in the beginning I completely understand how some couples give up on it in order to get some semblance of their lives back.

Breast feeding til the kid can walk and talk is a bit out there, but who am I to judge? People have their reasons, and if the kid (and mother) are reasonably socially adjusted, it doesn't really matter, does it? There are plenty of fucked up things people do to their kids, I'm not sure why this one is so... titillating.

It's far better than giving a two year old soda.

 

Okay, as I sit here breastfeeding my almost 8 month old I'll chime in on this.

Before I was a mother I used to think that if a woman was nursing her child anywhere but home that she should use one of these:

It's a Hooter Hider (no, really, that's the brand name.) In fact I ordered one myself fully intent on using it anytime my baby decided she was hungry and we were out and about.

I've used it twice. Both times I was pumping in a car and, trust me, when you pump you're really hanging out there for all to see. Anytime that the young'n is hungry in public I lift up my top shirt, unhook my nursing tank, and feed her. Unless you're studying my every movement you wouldn't know. Fuck a whole bunch of being embarrassed by it, if my baby is hungry I'll feed her.

I know the above is slightly off topic, I was just trying to give an example of how my opinions have changed now that I actually have a child. I intend to breastfeed for at least a year but I'm willing to go longer. She may decide to wean herself before we even hit the year mark or she may be 18 months or 2 years. Either way, I'm fine with it.

Even now she doesn't nurse as often as she did a few months ago and as we give her more and more solid foods it will decrease even more. Chances are that three year old up there only nurses once a day. I doubt it ever happens anywhere but at home and if that kid's mom hadn't decided to prove a point by making national a very personal picture, nobody would even know. That's my biggest issue with the magazine cover. That kid is just getting pulled along on his mother's public stance for extended breastfeeding. That's not fair to him, especially when he hits high school. I don't envy him.

I'm cool with extended breastfeeding. I don't intend to do it myself but it's not harming the child and it's actually been proven that it has health benefits until age 5 or so. It's not going to cause psychological damage, in other cultures around the world it's normal to breastfeed until 5 or 6. Unfortunately in our culture the breast is so sexualized that people can't get past that enough to remember the breast's actual purpose.

I'm so thankful that I've been able to breastfeed, not only for the nutritional value to my daughter, or even the bonding--formula is fucking expensive and I'm glad that we don't have to spend $15 for 12oz. Speaking of, I also dislike the headline "Are You Mom Enough?" is very insulting to the women who aren't able to breastfeed and even the women who choose not to from the start. As long as your baby is being fed, then you're no less of a mom than anyone else.

Sorry, I rambled a lot there. To sum it up: As long as it's not hurting the kid, who gives a shit? Everyone parents differently and there will never be a point when every body agrees on a 'right way' so as long as it's not harming the child then I say go for it.

 

My educated guesses:

1. The child is not vaccinated. She knows what is best, and is worried that he will get Autism.

2. When the kid finally stops sucking the tit, she will shop him around to various doctors, child shrinks, and then finally a therapist with an M.S. who will finally give her the diagnosis that she wants, that the kid is on somewhere on the Autism Spectrum.

3. The child will also be "allergic" to Gluten/Peanuts/allergy of the month.


Also, my bet is that sucking her tit is just the same as a pacifier, a soothing mechanism.

 

Signing the poor little bastard up for a youth of torment due to that photo is worse than anything mommy has done with her tits. Maybe there's some new science that supports late breastfeeding, idunno, but I'm pretty sure there's no new psychology that says attention whoring by exposing your child to ridicule is good for his development.

 

You don't get it do you? Fuck him, his mother might not be getting every bit of validation she might want.

 

I think when a child can ask for the tit, he's probably too old to be getting the tit.

 

No, read what abernetta said. As long as the child wants it what is the harm?!?!? I'm going to guess that the child grows up with an incest fetish.

 

I'm not talking Game of Thrones nursing until they're 8 here. Most kids wean themselves far earlier than even the boy pictured.

As far as asking for it, what about the parents who teach their baby sign language and can ask for it long before they're a year old?

 

This is what I was thinking:

- if that's the cover of time, why is it wrapped in NSFW tags?
- what if the photographer / photo editor didn't think her actual son was right for the photo and that's another kid? [high five]
- I certainly can't blame that kid for wanting to keep that up; I mean, I'd like to suck that tit, too.

Then, upon finding out that the lady in the photos Jamie Lynn Grumet, who has a blog:

So, now I'm wondering if the Ethiopian kid is breast feeding, too. And if so, why isn't he in the picture?

Also, the whole Mommy Hates Chemicals thing . . . some of you hit the nail on the head.

 

From her twitter description:
"Wife and mother of two by way of birth and Ethiopian adoption. Advocate of adoptive breastfeeding. Also a supporter of fighting maternal mortality in Africa."

Breast feeding someone elses child even if you legally own it makes me extremely uncomfortable. And I think the pic with the ethiopian would have been way better.

Edit: it gets even creepier. THis picture is on her website. I have a feelings she may be a pedophile.


He must be spent after a good sucking session.

 

On her website she says Oprah helped shape her life by teaching her about AIDS.