s of others, and damage to a child’s self-esteem at this age will have lasting effects. Jamie Lynne Grumet’s son will forever be known as the little boy who suckled his mother on the cover of a national magazine. He is homeschooled, perhaps because his parents want to shield him from what other children might say about their own choices and how it effects their son. Maha Al Musa’s daughter will always be reminded of how her mother posted daily pictures of the two during feedings. This kind of attachment parenting is detrimental to this age group, cementing a stigma on these children that will follow them for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps one of the most shocking results of extreme breastfeeding thus far is the heavy dose of confusion it gives children. Personal boundaries seem to no longer have meaning. Dr. Ellie Cannon published an article,“That’s just selfish and wrong: How the image of a mother breastfeed a toddler reignited a health controversy”, speaking out against breastfeeding older children, specifically spotlighting Jamie Lynne Grumet’s public display. Cannon made excellent points refuting Grumet’s choices. She states that children who are breastfed well past infancy will not understand limits and appropriate talk and use of bodies. Commentators and authors of separate articles similar to Cannon’s spoke out, many saying that they have witnessed a child demand in perfect speech that they want to be breastfed, like the author of “Breastfeeding Controversy: What’s Normal? What’s Accepted?” Some have even recalled watching a child go up to their mother, open her shirt, and feed without permission. This, in addition to the sensitive period of childhood where children become more interested in gender identity and body parts, will complicate this stage of development. If a child can go up to their mother and open her shirt to breastfeed, where will they place boundaries on the bodies of others? They have no true idea of what is acceptable.
When extreme breastfeeding is analyzed, there are questions to ask. Is this happening for the child or for the parent? No parent is perfect, and striving to meet the needs of children can get hazy along the way. Mothers get the wrong idea in their heads, thinking that attachment parenting will create a happy child and in turn, a happy mother. Many argue that extreme breastfeeding is a cry for attention and praise as a mother. Writer for The Daily Telegraph Susie O’Brien’s article “Who does extreme breastfeeding really help: a child or their mum?” speculates Maha Al Musa and her rather public style of parenting. There are parents who post pictures of their children excessively, and there is Al Musa, who frequently shares with the world photos of her six year old breastfeeding. Dr. Keith Ablow of the Fox News Medical team is unabashedly disgusted with Jamie Lynne Grumet and her willingness to showcase her son standing on a chair to reach her nipple as she stands with a hand on her hip, staring seductively into the camera. In his article,“Time magazine cover — forget the breast, what about the boy?”, Ablow claims “This is self-centeredness at its worst, sold as good parenting.” And rightfully so, as Grumet stains her son for life without understanding how affected he will be by her actions.
Breastfeeding past the accepted weaning age becomes a case of having poor boundaries and an unclear idea of lifting children up to their potential. If a mother wants to be involved and feel like she has a purpose in the life of her children, there are other ways to fulfill that need. There is no clear answer to whether the act is narcissistic or nurturing, but psychologists argue that it does no good for a child and is a selfish way for mothers to perpetuate their importance. There is no coincidence of developmental delays in a child blanketed under their attached parent. The popular television show Game of Thrones includes a character who breastfeeds her adolescent son, who is depicted as cognitively under-developed for his age. This portrayal is not an accident. Weaning a child off of breastmil