http://www.nypost.com/seven/08232007/entertainment/for_coddled_tots__ta
ps_never_r.htm
FOR CODDLED TOTS, TAPS NEVER RUN DRY
By MANDY STADTMILLER
C-O-D-D-L-E-D: Gwen Stefani still nurses her 15-month-old son.I love when
stars breast feed their children, it's really entertaining...
posted by nyClick here to commentAugust 23, 2007 -- ‘ONE of my friends’
sons pulled on his mother’s skirt at a party with friends while she was in mid-
conversation, pointed at her breast and said, ‘Milk, mama, I want milk,’ ”
recalls Darran, a 37-year-old in Manhattan.
“Another friend of a friend breastfed her daughter until the age of 6,” he
continues. “No joke!”
We’re not laughing. These little New Yorkers are only part of what some
consider overcoddling - Peter Pan syndrome in embryo. Gwen Stefani just
revealed that she’s still nursing her 15-month-old son, Kingston, and Kate
Hudson is regularly snapped wheeling around her tyke, Ryder, in a stroller. He’s
almost 4 years old.
When are these children going to grow up?
“I was at a Gristede’s in Midtown,” reports Steve, 34, from Manhattan. “There
was a lady with an older toddler in a stroller shopping. The kid was clutching
his ‘woobie,’ sucking on a pacifier. Then he got up from the stroller, the
woman placed her shopping bags into it, and the kid pushed the stroller out of
the store.”
Not everyone, however, gets so worked up about it, pointing out that the
longer you breastfeed, the better it may be for the child - and strollers can
keep kids safe from cars, bikes and other urban dangers.
“It’s unfair to presume that mothers who breastfeed for extended periods of
time are ‘coddling,’ ” says Jacqueline, 30, from Brooklyn. “For one thing, the
American Academy of Pediatrics actually recommends breastfeeding for two
years, if possible. As for Kate Hudson, even a big child’s legs are lot shorter
than an adult’s. Since when does early childhood have to be boot camp?”
We’re not looking to draft the little ones just yet, but surely a bit of self-
reliance is a good thing? Krissy, a 26-year-old nanny in Brooklyn Heights, once
had a 6-year-old approach her with, “Wipe my butt,” and then followed this
request with: “I like it better when someone does it for me.”
Of course, it does help to have a sense of humor.
“In our circle of friends with kids, the general rule is that if your toddler can
say the word ‘breast,’ they are too old to be breastfed,” says Jim, 39, of
Manhattan. “That rule has been overridden by one of my male friends. At a
party recently, he revealed that this strategy is a win-win for all, since the kid
gets extra vitamin D and he gets double-D’s.”
Overall, advises iVillage parenting expert Michele Borba, “There’s a real
difference between mothering and smothering.
“Follow the commandment: Never do for your child what the child can do for
him- or herself. Because then you are robbing the child of the ‘I can do it’
feeling.”
Not to mention creeping out the rest of us.
This is what I sent to the editor:
To whom it May Concern:
I am sure this will not be the only letter you receive regarding this, but I just
want to express my disappointment in the article, FOR CODDLED TOTS, TAPS
NEVER RUN DRY, By MANDY STADTMILLER.
On a day when any article you print about breastfeeding should have been on
the fact that yesterday, Elliot Spitzer signed into law legislation protecting the
rights of mothers in the workplace, instead it is an article riddled with passive
aggressive humor at mothers who choose to breastfeed beyond what our
society sees as a normal age.
I would like to point out that this new law protects a mother for three years
after she gives birth, so then they must have taken into consideration the
benefits of extended breastfeeding.
I have heard this statement so many times by people who like to think they
are funny, the statement along the lines that once a baby can say breasts,
its time to wean, does not make it so. First off, due to the fact that numerous
reliable studies have shown that breastfed children have higher IQ's, we must
take into consideration that they may speak sooner than others. So we should
wean them because they are smart?
Also the person who is uncomfortable with seeing the natural process of a
woman breastfeeding her child should remove himself or herself the situation.
Then maybe look within to identify what issues they have that something so
trivial and natural would cause them such angst.
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