A Time to be Extreme?

The headline reads “Are You Mom Enough? Why attachment parenting drives some mothers to extremes…”  The cover of this month's Time seeks to incite controversy (and sell magazines) as one sees a 26 year old mother standing in somewhat of an audacious pose while her 3 y/o son stands on a chair suckling at her breast.  I could scream!!!   The article itself discusses a philosophy of parenting, called “attachment parenting”, which encourages breastfeeding, baby wearing and safe co-sleeping.  Although I have not yet read the article (and acknowledge that some things can be taken to extremes), I feel “extremely” disappointed in Time magazine’s cover photo that, in my opinion, exploits the act of breastfeeding and belittles a parenting style that, for the most part, represents good, evidence-based and instinctual parenting.   In a video clip posted on the magazine’s website, the author claims that there is “no evidence to show that wearing your baby… or sleeping with your baby will change how they will turn out”.   On the contrary!  Even from birth, via the act of skin-to-skin positioning, close physical contact with an infant has been shown to improve physical and cognitive outcomes!  She also makes the statement that “sleeping with your baby is a new phenomenon” (wrong… families have slept together for hundreds of years all over the world) and that “a lot of people who are attracted to attachment parenting are kind of reacting to their own (difficult) childhoods” (a pretty good reason, I’d say).   I hope I will be pleasantly surprised in reading the article. Regardless, I will stand firm in my belief that human infants deserve to be breast-fed long-term if possible (at least one year), and that, physiologically, human infants and young children need to be carried close to our bodies, whenever possible.  Lastly, I don’t think I have ever met a loving parent who hasn’t, on many occasions, brought their child into bed for a family snuggle,warmth and the security that every precious child deserves. Here’s a link to the Cover Photo or, to read Forbes magazine’s take on this.