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The quote on the page: "Why attachment parenting drives some mothers to extremes..". This is extreme? Really? THIS is what you'd call extreme? Controversial?
Huh. I read someone say it is F*ed up. What the Hell?
What on earth is with western culture and breastfeeding being such a taboo topic? How can breastfeeding be a divisive subject? How can providing a child with nourishment and comfort in the way our bodies were built be anything but a good thing? And who gets to decide what the cut off is?
Because some people said that 'if he is old enough to ask for it, he's too old to have it'. Alexander had started forming words at 10months. Would that have been too old to breastfeed him? Others looked at the picture and said "Ugh. Teeth! He's too old once he has teeth". Except, both of my children got their first 2 teeth at 11-12 weeks. Is that too old to breastfeed?
I think I've talked about my feelings on breastfeeding on here before. But if I haven't, here's the deal. It never occurred to me that I wouldn't breastfeed. When Alexander was born, his BGLs were very low (I'm diabetic) and he was very sleepy. He refused to latch on. In the SCU they inserted a nasogastric tube to feed him. We tried and tried and tried, but I was dealing with both severe PND and also (it is now believed) PTSD and my milk simply never came in. So they gave him formula.
I took him home when he was a week old and tried to feed him. Within 72 hours I was suicidal. Literally. Except not that I wanted to die. I just honestly thought that if I hung myself (I went around the house trying to find the best place to do it) I could just skip the next feed. That seemed perfectly logical to me. Joel rushed me to the hospital. They threatened to admit me and send Alexander home with out Joel unless I agreed to stop breastfeeding. They said that (at 10 days) my milk still wasn't in, that I was dealing with too much at home (newborn, PND, mother weeks from dying) and I just needed the back up. The relief I felt at that moment (combined with a sh!tload of mother-guilt) was immense.
5 years later when I fell pregnant with Samuel, I joined the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Determined that this time, we'd make it work. That I'd be more prepared. I bought a book and I read it, cover to cover 3 times before entering hospital. I read it in hospital. I read it during and after every feed in the hospital. Sam was NOT a fan of breastfeeding. My letdown was SO huge and fast that he would choke and sputter and refuse to latch on. And the screaming. Oh, the screaming. He was such an angry baby. The nurses tried to help me express, but just like last time, I still couldn't produce enough milk through the pump, to even cover the base of the bottle. 4-5mls. Tops.
I fed him for a couple of weeks. 3 I think. But the PND was worse this time. I would be fine until he latched on. At which point I'd go into an immediate anxiety attack. Not an 'I'm-not-sure-I-can-do-this" attack. A "Get-it-OFF-me" attack. I was self harming and again, suicidal. The doctors had explations for why this was, but we don't need to get into it here. Already off track. But the point is, that for me - breastfeeding was an abysmal failure.
Except. I'm SO pro-breastfeeding. I mean so, incredibly pro breastfeeding. I think, even despite my experience that people give up way to fast. And I have proof.
The WHO says we ought to aim to breastfeed our babies exclusively to 6 months, then continue to breastfeed (along with introducing solids) for another 2 years or more. It has lists of pros for both mother and baby.
But the world breastfeeding rate at 6 months is less than 40% That's nothing, kids.
Want to know what the 2011 stats were in Australia? Wait for it.
14%. Fourteen percent. Seriously. At the 6 month 84% of babies have had formula. That's a LOT. Considering that for most people it is the cheaper, easier, and more beneficial option. Don't get me wrong. I know there are situations where that's not the case. Mine is definitely one of them.
But to turn around and say there is something wrong, something perverted about a woman still breastfeeding her 3 or 4 or 5 year old? Is it any wonder that our rates are so below the world averages? If we, as a society can see anything wrong with extended breastfeeding and attachment parenting (and despite the breastfeeding debacle, I most certainly consider myself an attachment parent), then how on earth can we ever successfully promote breastfeeding as normal, the BEST option (by far) for both mother and child?
Why do we find this acceptable:
And this offensive?
And don't tell me you don't like the cover of time (or at least the picture) because it's breasts. And they make you uncomfortable. Because I'm willing to bet that this is one of the highest selling magazines of the entire year, every year.
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| Am trying to ignore that they have photo-shopped out her vulva? |
Now, I don't hang out all year for Sports Illustrated. Neither does Joel. We don't buy it. But I don't object to it either. I'm not entirely sure what the girl rolling around in the sand has to do with sport, but meh. Whatever. But I'm prepared to go out on a limb and say that she's showing a LOT more flesh than is shown in a single one of the breastfeeding photos.
And noone is offended by hers. Hers that are there to titillate you and tease you and turn men on. As compared to the breasts that are being used to nourish a child. Facebook is ok with you having the Bikini clad girl as your facebook profile, but will swoop in the moment you put a photo of a baby breastfeeding on it.
Yeah. The world makes a whole lot of sense.
All I know is that I'd prefer to see my children drinking this
And I find these two photos equally stunning.
They both make me smile big. They both make me happy and hopeful and make me want to try again, despite the odds.
Get over yourselves people. Stop letting your twisted, ignorant minds besmirch a beautiful, natural thing.
I hope you don't though. Stay. Talk to me. Tell me what you think.
My friend Bron has done a post on this too, and I've linked up there, as I'm sure others will too.
