'Time' Breastfeeding Cover Mom Defends Extended...

The Time breastfeeding cover mom has defended her choice to practice extended breastfeeding. Jamie Lynne Grumet, 26, is the mom featured on the controversial cover with her three-year-old son named Aram attached to her breast.

Grumet comes from a history of extended breastfeeding. Her mother breastfed her until she was six years old, which may be part of the reason she is comfortable with the attachment parenting tenant.

As for her attachment parenting choices, Grumet said, "I don't feel like it takes away from my personal life. My relationship with my husband is very, very important to me. It gives my children a strong bond too."

Many people worry that having the child so attached to the mother will interfere with other aspects of her life, but it hasn't in the Time breastfeeding cover mother's case. She said, "It is a big commitment and it is not right for everyone. You need to do what is best for your baby and for your own family." Ultimately, she hopes that Aram is finished breastfeeding sometime during his fourth year. Obviously this will be a decision that both mother and child arrive at together, so there is no hard date set for the pair to end their breastfeeding relationship.

Dr. Bill Spears outlined this parenting practice in his book called The Baby Book. He believes that the style of parenting produces happy and healthy children who are not bullies. What do you think? It is nice to see that the Time breastfeeding cover mom does not believe that her choices should be everybody's choices. This type of extended breastfeeding is obviously an incredibly personal decision.

Comments: 5

Alison H. May 11, 2012, 2:56pm UTC

I practiced extended breastfeedling, and my grown kids are normal. As they get older, children nurse less and less, until it's mainly for comfort at naptime and bedtime. Later, this closeness can become "storytime." How sad that this is still a controversial subject!

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Margie Wilson-Mars May 11, 2012, 7:33pm UTC

Thank you for writing a much more rational article than most. It IS very personal and some people on Gather and elsewhere have made some very rude and disturbing comments. I am the very proud mother of 8 Attachment Parented children, some nursed a little as 2-years-old and the latest was till about 41/2-years-old. My older 4 kids are very well adjusted adults and my four little ones are doing great. My 3 grandchildren are being parented in the same way, but 2 were breastfed for a shorter time.
This is perfectly normal in most parts of the world.

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Pamela Marks May 12, 2012, 9:10am UTC

great article I just had someone write something about me that was not only untrue but very disgusting, I guess because she was unable to breastfeed she had to put it down like she does everything else in my life, that I succeed at.

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zamora carl May 17, 2012, 4:41pm UTC

what Roy implied I can't believe that some one able to make $7827 in a few weeks on the internet. have you seen this web link http://nutshellurl.com/54oz

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Deidre Kent May 20, 2012, 11:59pm UTC

The whole thing is to sell magazines. Put an attractive woman with a 5 year old kid sucking on her tit while both facing the camera is an attention getter. It's dumb and stupid. Nothing against breast feeding (I breastfed my kids) but past 5-6 mos. is totally not necessary and to go past that age is just for new age bare-footed hippie chicks and that went out of style 20 years ago. Get over it.

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'Time' Breastfeeding Cover Mom Defends Extended Breastfeeding

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