Are You Mom Enough?: Link Roundup

Lisa Belkin at Huffington Post: No. I am not mom enough.

I am not Mom enough to take the bait. To accept TIME's deliberate provocation and either get mad at this woman for what I think I know about her from this photo, or to feel inferior, or superior, or defensive, or guilty -- or anything at all, if it means I am comparing myself to other mothers.

Annie Urban (from PhD in Parenting) at Care2: Are you MOM ENOUGH? Yes, you probably are.

TIME magazine says that “this demanding brand of child rearing [attachment parenting] has ignited a philosophical battle that rages within the parenting community.” Yes, there are certainly raging philosophical and often judgmental battles, but inflammatory headlines and divisive articles provide plenty of ammunition to keep the battle going.

Eric Michael Johnson of Discover Magainze Blog: Behind the TIME cover: Most human societies don't get our breastfeeding hang-up.

My son will be 3 years old next month and is still breastfeeding. In other words, he is a typical primate. However, when I tell most people about this the reactions I receive run the gamut from mild confusion to serious discomfort.

Chris de Serres at (Wo)Men Speak Out on Breastfeeding in Public:

When my wife began breastfeeding I faced my hard reality.  The boob was not for my sexual pleasure.  It was to feed our hungry daughter.  Over and over my wife would ‘whip it out’ for the purposes of motherhood.  At times I caught myself resenting this scourging of the sexuality of this thing.  This milk-producing breast.  This non-sexual breast.  The sexual breast was all I ever knew.

My evolution as a man was healthy.  I learned respect for mothers.  For all the other roles of women.  My own internal dissonance helped me understand the difficulty women have being accepted as anything else than a funnel for sex.

Shannon Bradley-Colleary at Opposing Views on Defending Jamie Lynne Grumet, the breastfeeding mom on TIME.

I think TIME did Jamie a disservice by photographing her in an unnatural position in a calculatedly provocative pose in order to sell magazines. The woman on the cover -- while as stunningly beautiful as the real Jamie -- doesn't reflect the inclusive, intelligent, wise-beyond-her-years, loving, nurturing, non-judgmental woman I know, a woman who would never have authored the headline "Are You Mom Enough?"

Heather at It's All About the Hat on her reaction to the TIME article (and with lots more links!):

In all, I thought the related article was nice and that the cover was some 'sell magazines' propaganda. And that's pretty much my whole opinion on it.

Margaret's opinion was, "A big kid nursing!"

Isaac's opinion was, "Breast!" (that's our name for nursing).

Laurie A. Couture says Forget TIME, are you human enough for nature's intent?

Attachment Parenting’s principles are being butchered, sensationalized and sliced into empty, candy-coated scraps. Mainstream media serves to pamper and coddle the politically correct, obedient masses in attempts to make money. The controversies they create do not really stimulate any intelligent discourse, but simply trigger predictable, scripted tantrums from ideologically, politically and religiously motivated sub-masses.

The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog examines Six misconceptions about extended breastfeeding.

One of my favorite facts about breastmilk is that it increases in immune protection when babies are six months old.  Why?  Perhaps because the mother's body knows that the baby is starting solid foods and that this provides a route for pathogens to enter the baby's system.  And when your breasts sense that feeding frequency is declining, they increase the immune protection in the milk.  Nice system, huh?

Jodine's World reports that Facebook has now agreed to allows breastfeeding pictures of "children" not just "infants" or "babies." And it hasn't removed the TIME pictures.

Jason Good 365: From Breasts to Boobs and Back Again.

I was breastfed as a baby. Honestly, I feel squirmy even typing “breast.”  Twelve years after I stopped nursing, breasts became boobs, and then in high school they became tits (and a plethora of other names), and now, as a husband and father, they’re back to breasts. I’ve come full circle. I see them as a means of nourishing children, and as sexual objects. I’m not sure how I feel about that. The fact that I sexualize the one piece of female anatomy from which I once fed, makes me feel grotesquely simple.  I think that feeling is at the heart of why people are uncomfortable with the recent image on the cover of Time Magazine

Spors in the Desert: A few thoughts on motherhood.

Mama Birth: Sexy Breastfeeding

The Mommy Psychologist: Have you seen enough of Jamie Grumet yet?

Rediscovering the Kitchen: Breastfeeding is Selfish? Part 1

Any other links on this topic? Post them in the comments section and I'll add them to the main post.