14 DAY TRIAL // One of the hottest topics of last week was the cover for the latest issue of TIME magazine, which featured mom Jamie Lynne Grumet and her son Aram (almost 4), whom she was breastfeeding. She says she plans to do it for another year.
What she's doing is called attached parenting and is, according to some experts, going to the extremes with a completely natural thing, the bond between mother and child, to the detriment of the child.
You can see the TIME cover here and you will immediately understand why it's what people have been talking about for days.
Jamie Lynne and Aram agreed to do an interview for The Today Show to discuss her decision to take part in the now-controversial shoot for TIME. Video is below.
On the same occasion, she reveals that she plans on breastfeeding her son for another year, which means he could very well turn 5 by the time he starts feeding normally.
Aram is “self-weaning right now,” she says, adding that, at the same time, she fully understands why people criticize her for her parenting method.
“I understand some of the breastfeeding advocates are actually upset about this,” she says. But that doesn't mean that her method isn't good.
Jamie Lynne explains that, contrary to how she's pictured on the cover of the magazine, this is not how she breastfeeds her child – i.e. he's not standing on a chair while she does it.
“This isn't how we breastfeed at home. It's more of a cradling, nurturing situation [at home]. I understand what they're [the advocates] saying,” she explains.
Still, she agreed to pose for the controversial photo because she knew it would pave the way for an honest conversation on breastfeeding and parenting.
“We knew exactly what we were going to get into. I felt like our family was one of the better ones to handle this because of my mom's own personal breastfeeding. It did create a media craze and [it was meant] to get the dialogue... talking,” she says.
“It's not right for everybody... you have to do what is right for your baby,” Jamie Lynne concedes.
She was breastfed until she was six. Besides Aram, Jamie Lynne is also breastfeeding her adopted 5-year-old son.