i'm not sure if this has already been commented on and i apologize if  so... 
i couldn't help but wonder what the reaction here would be to recent story  
lines on very popular tv shows involving extended nursing.
on hbo's 'the sopranos' (mafia boss tony soprano and his life &  emotional 
struggles/panic disorder), janice soprano is still nursing (and loudly  
complaining about it, LOL) her 15 month old daughter.
on 'desperate housewives' (just what it sounds like - soapish nighttime  
comedy/drama) a woman is hired into lynette's ad agency who is still nursing her  
5 yr old son. of course the reaction of the other employees is horror and  
revulsion - as expected-  however, i have to say i was pleasantly  surprised by 
the demeanor and affect of the nursing mother. when confronted  about her 
nursing and its 'distracting' effects on the other employees (she did  it in the 
nursery, isolated from the other children, with the blinds closed as  the other 
employees peeked and pried out of her view) she stood her ground  calmly and 
asked lynette if she was aware of the immune boosting properties of  breastmilk 
or that children commonly nursed until 6 in other parts of the world.  she 
went on to state that breastmilk is also thought to raise IQ points and that  it 
is her son's choice when he will wean. she further added that if anyone at  
the firm continues to have a problem w/ her nursing her son, they could contact 
 her lawyer. she was very attractive, very intelligent and very 'normal' ! i  
almost fell out of my chair in joyous approval.
of course the show being what it is, lynette sabotaged her bfing by  tempting 
the little boy w/ chocolate milk and causing him to wean in favor of it  over 
his mother's milk...and the nursing mother went on to tearfully confess her  
greatest sorrow would be in losing the weight loss advantage she'd been 
enjoying  while he continued to nurse. combined w/ the realization that the nursing 
mom  had her ample breasts exposed by a blouse unbuttoned one more than it 
should  have been all along, i started to feel cheated by the episode. but now i 
cheer  myself by realizing any depiction of a non-freakish, semi-normal woman 
on  mainstream tv still nursing a child that age is a HUGE boon for the cause. 
a  psychotic lying and murdering mafia boss's sister like janice soprano 
still  nursing her 15 old i'm not so sure is such a ringing endorsement of  
extended bfing and those who do it...but to tell millions of (esp diet, plastic  
surgery and weight obsessed american) viewers it will give them fuller  breasts 
and help them keep weight off might be a better ad campaign than even  touting 
the health advantages! i wonder if a lactivist might have been behind  that 
episode, after all !!
 
~jacqui gruttadauria, bsw - still not back to my hospital bf counseling yet  
but relentlessly keeping up the good fight by scanning the tv waves for any 
sign  of extended bfing references as i tandem nurse my 18 month old and 3 month 
old  side by side !

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