"Are You Mom Enough?"

I'm sure many of you have already seen the latest cover of Time, where a mother is breastfeeding her friggin' 4-year-old son!

www.time.com

I only have one word for this: INAPPROPRIATE. Actually, I probably have a few more words to describe how I feel about this cover, including disturbed, disgusted, and maybe even a little traumatized. I mean seriously, that kid is practically old enough to cook his own meal. I do agree that breastfeeding is a natural thing and a great way to bond with your baby, but c'mon, not with your child (who's about to start kindergarten and is guaranteed to be ridiculed for this photo for the rest of his life). I do plan on breastfeeding my baby, but only until they're about 6 months old, maybe even a year if I'm up for it (or whenever they start sprouting teeth - whichever comes first!) I understand the health benefits of breastfeeding your baby, but after a certain age, say 12 months, are the benefits even significant enough to continue breastfeeding throughout their toddler years? Think about this: John was breastfed as a baby and he's sick ALL the time. I was never breastfed as a baby and I'm as healthy as can be - in all my years of teaching, I've taken a sick day maybe 4 times, I only have to go to the doctor maybe once a year if that, and I have a great immune system. So the mothers from this article who wax lyrical about the benefits of breastfeeding 'til their kid can read, write, and talk in full sentences ("Mother, may I have some more breast milk please?") are not necessarily going to raise children who are healthier than someone who was fed formula as a baby. In fact, these children are probably more likely to become needy, dependent kids with awkward social skills (ok, so I don't know about that last part, but that's what I imagine at least). Not to mention the trauma of actually remembering breastfeeding from your mom (shudder). I personally think this whole "attachment parenting" is a very negative extreme. Of course you want to bond with your baby and be close to them, but at a certain point, you also want them to grow up to be healthy, strong, independent children, and one way for them to do that is to um, latch off.