Breastfeeding a 3yr old on the front cover of Time Magazine has created a media storm! Unbelievable amount of ignorance and misinformation has been uttered from, in particular, women in the media. One young TV media mother announced she found the photograph ‘extremely uncomfortable’, another stated it was ‘sexualising breastfeeding’, and yet another thought it would create an unstable and insecure child.
There are many countries around the world where breastfeeding toddlers is very much the norm. A message to the media – if you do not understand a ‘topic’, then don’t offer an opinion. Find someone who has expert knowledge about breastfeeding, and can explain, simply, why women do breastfeed their toddlers. Of course the benefits are huge, for both mother and baby. Let’s not criticise our mothers.
As a society we should be very proud that these women are giving their baby the best start in life. It’s a well documented guarantee that the longer a child breastfeeds the better his immune system and the less likely he is to grow up and be a drain (literally) on our health system. If, as a community, we can’t offer our women positive encouragement and support then PLEASE leave our mothers alone. I still feel enormously proud of my breastfeeding efforts, having breasfed my second son for 3yrs. He is now a 28yr old, very healthy, happy young man, who has never needed to go to a GP!
