Milking the Moment? ‘Time’ Magazine’s "Breastfeeding Mom" Does Another Cover
The Los Angeles based blogger and mom Jamie Lynne Grumet became a national sensation when she provocatively posed on the cover of Time Magazine boldly breastfeeding her almost 4-year-old son with the caption “Are you mom enough.”
Debated and deconstructed, the cover wasn’t seen as merely a statement about attachment parenting, but it opened up a big can of worms from “fanning the flames of the mommy wars,” to giving attachment parenting a bad name, to outright disgust.
With the media frenzy that occurred after the debut of the cover, some women might have gone into hiding or at least played down the sensational aspect of the cover image if it were them. But apparently not Jamie Lynne Grumet, as she has opted to pose for yet another magazine cover – this time Pathways to Family Wellness – while breastfeeding her boy. Why?
According to CBS2, Grumet said “she and her family decided to do another magazine cover at the suggestion of Attachment Parenting International.” LAist adds that, “The Pathways cover is meant to evoke a photo from Grumet’s own childhood, where she was being breastfed by her mom and reaching for her dad, which she describes as ‘a moment that was captured that was really beautiful,’ that represents the whole family.”
Lori Dorman, the photographer who took the Pathways photo, said, “My goal was to correct the misperception that was created on the TIME cover. Its message was that nursing a 3-year-old was outrageous and inappropriate, when in fact nursing a 3-year-old is a normal, healthy activity in the world today.”
Inside the magazine, there is a far less controversial photo of the family, smiling while under a blanket. Why wasn’t this used instead? It’s a charming photo of a loving family, one that doesn’t bring attention to the fallout from the last cover. Was she or the magazine “milking” the moment? It seems, in our public arena, hard to rationally discuss an important topic such as parenting styles when the conversation can be high-jacked by the sensationalist sentiment that a cover – like the Time one – evoked or in this case evokes yet again. One would hard pressed not to be reminded of the Time cover and the “are you mom enough” message when seeing this cover. It could be seen as distracting from the discussion, and it will be interesting to see what the general public will think of Grumet’s second cover.
Myself, I would have preferred to see another reflection of the family on the cover instead of yet another breastfeeding photo. There is far more to attachment parenting then the option of extended breastfeeding and I believe the message gets lost in the ‘shock’ of a woman breastfeeding their 4-year-old. Plus I can’t help think about her son, the one she is breastfeeding, once was enough but having him on a magazine cover for a second time just seems like fodder for his future therapist.
What do you think of Grumet’s second breastfeeding cover?
Photo source: Pathways via LAist
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I think it’s a lovely cover. It’s a really beautiful picture of a family. I’m glad she had the chance to get a cover “re-do”. From what i understand, she didn’t choose that Time cover. It was chosen for shock value and this cover is way more what it’s like to nurse a kid. Except in my house the other kid is usually standing on my head and my husband is making us dinner
I’m not sure how you can sincerely claim this photo is evocative of the Time cover. Aside from mom and their younger son, it bears no resemblance. I think it’s a lovely illustration of extended breastfeeding, and it’s a shame Time didn’t use a photo more like this one.
Do you read Jamie’s blog? If you did, you would understand why she chose to do another cover. It has nothing to do with ego or attention for her family. And the new cover is beautiful in my opinion.
Personally, I thin this woman seeks a lot of attention and validation. I don’t care how my BF feeds her kid, so how this total stranger does is non-news to me. But the title of the Time Magazine was what pi$$ed me, and many people off. trust me, there are far tougher things one does as a mom than breast feed. Try having a severely disabled child. THOSE moms get my kudos.
I have to wonder also, why did they feel it was absolutely necessary to display this woman breastfeeding her very large child AGAIN? As previously stated, there are other areas of attachment parenting, but if you are unfamiliar with the concept then it’s possible that all you’ll take away about it is that it requires nursing a child who is two-thirds your size. Why couldn’t it just be a picture of the family? Did she just feel the need to say “Look! We can do it while sitting, too!”
http://www.deathmetalmommy.blogspot.com
This is in no way comparable to the Time cover….this is how you would normally breastfeed your childbirth no matter the age. If this were the photo on the cover of Time, there wouldn’t have been such controversy…even with the title “Are You Mom Enough?”. The Time cover did two things: 1. Fuel mommy-wars with the title, and 2. Give extended nursing moms a bad rep. All bad…and not her fault! Glad to see this cover! Kudos to her for making it right!
The picture is beautiful. I love it. Much better than the Time magaine cover.
Obviously, we haven’t seen enough photos of older children being breastfed because it is still an issue. We’ll know it’s too many when it’s too many because it’s boring and without current relevance, not because ohmygod we already saw her breastfeeding her toddler on Time. Everyone needs some desensitization on this. More photos will achieve that faster than a million articles about attachment parenting being about more than breastfeeding beyond 2 years.
Ironically, Ms. Grumet was scheduled to be a guest on the Dr. Phil show today. I know this because I was scheduled as one of the parenting experts for the show. My role as a psychologist was to talk about the psychological abuse inherent in this form of extreme parenting. When I showed up on set, the producer informed us that Ms. Grumet backed out of coming to the show due to illness. The show went on without her. I talk about the false propositions being presented as facts about this self centered parenting philosophy here:
http://www.themommypsychologist.com/2012/09/12/jamie-grumet-was-a-no-show-for-dr-phil/
I agree with LAM. The more bf covers, the better!! The Time cover was provocative, bc Time wanted to sell magazines and provoke controversy. Yes, there is more to motherhood than breast feeding..however, there’s so many misconceptions about breast feeding, and I think it is important to put images of mothers breast feeding their children out there in the public eye so that more people come to accept it as normal, and bottle feeding as unusual. Beyond the health benefits, there are so many other benefits to breast feeding a child. I for one think this mom is doing a great service by normalizing extended breast feeding. People need to be educated about this topic, bc it is so important!!!
I think it’s beautiful. And, FTR, I think anyone who thinks nursing a child ia about being slef centered is a complete nincompoop. Seriously, go away and quite spamming the derb in your attempts to hits for your lame-ass blog.
Notice how her husband is hiding his face in shame lol What a dumbass she is to be doing this to her family!
A few bloggers contradict themselves. Mommy psychologist, not going onto Dr. Phil show [a psychologist], to further discuss late breast feeding, because mommy Jamie went home before the show, may show the destructiveness of fierce arguments, people forcing people to convert them to their views. That rarely works successfully. One example from research/ experience: Do you know of lactose intolerant adults who cannot drink cow’s milk lifelong? Mothers boiling cows milk, cooling it, then bottle feeding their infants, to prevent the above and other probable maladies? Biologists & many others in the know, tell us that we belong to the larger family of mammals. Most of them breast feed their young, some for years, nursing two. Some cows, horses, & others on the farm do too, if they are not separated or restrained. Breast feeding is very diversified worldwide. Why would one want to force one’s practice on another? Jamie & family do not! Like me and most, I think.
Very well-said. I agree with the author’s sentiments completely. So, Jamie Lynn Grumet got her do-over. Yay for her? But now I kind of just wish she’d just go away and stop fanning the flames – intentionally or not – of the so-called mommy wars. I mean, why does attachment parenting even need to be advocated? Whatever your parenting style is, aren’t we all, as moms, just trying to our best to raise happy, healthy kids?