TIME magazine makes waves with their breastfeeding cover this week

Well, if there was ever an example of something going viral, it’s the latest TIME magazine cover. It’s been a while since we have seen a magazine cover provoke such a reaction – and no doubt TIME knew that the cover would cause a little bit of controversy on its release.

For those of you who haven’t yet seen the TIME cover we’re referring to, it features 26-year-old mother Jamie Lynne Grumet from Los Angeles breast-feeding her son Aram who is almost four years old, with the tagline “Are you Mom enough?” Of course, the image has sparked the age-old debate on breast-feeding and at which age it is appropriate to stop.

Some readers have already taken to Facebook, Twitter and blogs to criticise the image and many think that the child is too old to still be breast fed.

However, in the magazine Grumet defends her actions, explaining that she was breast-fed until the age of six, which she still remembers. “It's really warm. It's like embracing your mother, like a hug. You feel comforted, nurtured and really, really loved. I had so much self-confidence as a child, and I know it's from that.”

Grumet also breast feeds her adopted son Samuel, who was born in Ethiopia. “Being able to give him that [comfort] with the trauma that he faced was really, really important to me. I didn't realise how much it would help my attachment to him. When his English improved, because the connection was there, he didn't do it as much.”

She’s definitely aware of the negativity that comes with her being so open about her parenting techniques. “There are people who tell me they're going to call social services on me or that it's child molestation. I really don't think I can reason with those people.”

TIME magazine is always guaranteed to produce thought-provoking articles and that’s certainly what they’ve achieved this week.

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Posted by Arabella Gibson.