Some of my 25 yr old son's online chat regarding the TIME cover, which I  
just happened to notice browsing around Fb, ...Steven was a UTenn  student 
athlete grad, currently almost done with an NC graduate program,  full-time 
aerospace engineer, working on space vehicle science, research, and  
development, ....enlightening as to what a small sample of his age group is  thinking 
now, ...permission to post:.......
 
Steven: "Talk about the BEST  HEALTH INSURANCE plan available...This is 
perfectly natural and should be the  NORM."  

 
<<<<female friend:  disagrees and cites an article in last month's Marie 
Claire magazine contending that  pressuring women to breastfeed their children 
into  adolescence isn't medically necessary these days, ...It's the 21st 
century and  women are busy enough holding down full-time jobs, being wives 
and caring for  their families, ....No need to lay on the guilt trip if their 
bodies don't also  function as a 24/7 diner.>>>>
 
Steven:  "adolescence is a bit of a stretch...It shouldn't be just about 
pressuring women  anyway...the Mother AND the Father are equally responsible 
for ensuring that a  baby has proper nutrition. This means the father should 
encourage and facilitate  ...breastfeeding, pumping, and bottle feeding with 
 breastmilk. Humans should drink human milk when they're young, its 
important for  their health and well being throughout their entire lives. With 
cooperation of  both parents it is possible to feed babies breastmilk regularly 
for several  years even while both parents are holding down a full time 
job...The formula  companies like Nestle just don't want anyone to know this and 
how important it  is to breastfeed, they like to keep this subject under 
wraps. Where there's a  will there's a way and a baby's health should be the 
number one priority of  parents...otherwise they have no business creating a 
new life if they can't or  are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices 
and efforts to properly care for  them."
 
 
<<<<Male friend: says  that we should spend our time concerned with things 
that really matter like  the gradual erosion of our civil liberties and 
leave individual parenting  decisions to the parents.>>>>
 
Steven: "I'd say proper nutrition for babies really  matters. again the 
formula companies don't want you to know just how much! I bet  lack of 
breastfeeding contributes just as much to our country's health care  crisis as the 
obesity rate"
 
<<<<female friend: it's a bit of a stretch to imply that the  only couples 
suitable for procreating are those where a husband and wife are  working in 
tandem to breastfeed a child until kindergarten. I suspect the human  race 
would come to a screeching halt if those were the  requirements.>>>>
 
Steven: "One or two years is much much better than NO breastfeeding. Who  
said anything about a requirement?...parents should just honestly do the best 
 they can and not make excuses at the expense of their baby like the 
formula  companies want and enable them to  do..."
 
 
<<<<female friend: says breastfeeding during infancy is a good thing,  if 
it works. But the cover of TIME depicts a breastfeeding four-year-old, so  
your comment that couples "have no business creating a new life if they can't 
or  are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices"  seemed to imply that 
you didn't think couples should have babies unless they  plan to devote 
numerous years to breastfeeding. Unfair and unrealistic. But  perhaps Michael 
Moore will look into this Nestle conspiracy in his next  film>>>>
 
Steven:"I'm sorry that sounded harsh. But not  breastfeeding if one is able 
(even if its just for one year) is unfair for the  infant....I was just 
trying to emphasize my point that there are so many poor  excuses for why 
people don't breastfeed and that  people use formula because it makes their life 
easier but it is not anywhere  close to a good substitute...I think TIME put 
that picture on the cover in  reaction to the growing amount of disgust 
that society has towards a mother  breastfeeding their baby which has deterred 
parents from feeding their babies  breastmilk. It just seems to me that 
everything in our society is pulling people  away from breastfeeding and nothing 
pulling them toward it...to me that is what  is really wrong..."
 
 
I remember many years ago,  when Steven was in middle school (7 & 8th 
grades) I was so happily  surprised when, after it was graded, he showed me a fab 
BF poster  he had done for a class project. Maybe one day he'll be working 
on a program  for lactation support in space. My other son who is in a 
nuclear  engineering program should work on solving the 'exposure to radiation in 
 space' problem first. My daughter can manage food services and make sure  
lactating astronaut moms have a nice place to pump and store milk to be  
jettisoned back to earth if their babies cannot travel with them. Ok, I'm  
getting way ahead of myself now! Anyway back to the TIME cover: one problem is  
that we here in the US are just not accustomed to seeing older children  
breastfeeding, so yay TIME!
 


 


 
Debbie Tobin 
RN, BSN, ...20 yr lapsed IBCLC
In the suburbs outside the Washington DC  beltway

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