From “Are You Mom Enough?” To “Mom Enough To Speak Out”: Breastfeeding Mom Back With A Vengeance

Does Jamie Lynne Grumet ring a bell? No it doesn’t. If one was to say, she’s the girl who caused a furor, with her iconic TIME magazine cover, that showed her breastfeeding her 3-year-old son standing on a chair next to her, stretching himself to reach her uncovered breast as she defiantly stares into the camera.

The photograph brought a deluge of comments and became the focal point of debate about advertisement propriety and whether the photograph was vulgar or creative. The mother in the picture, Jamie Lynne Grumet, later admitted in an interview, that she and her family knew what she was getting into that she expected the uproar.

Well the ‘breastfeeding mom,’ as she became popularly known, is back. She graces the cover of the most recent issue of Pathways to Family Wellness magazine, where she is seen “breastfeeding her 4 year old while being cradled in the arms of her husband and oldest son.

Comparisons between the two photographs are a logical assumption. While the TIME cover was a little provocative, and in her words, “not an accurate representation of the reality of breastfeeding her son, then 3 years old.” The current cover, Grumet says, was more reflective of the magnitude and significance of breastfeeding.

She said that she was lot more pleased with new cover picture, as she is doing the same thing, but in “more of a cradling, nurturing situation,” surrounded by the rest of her family.

Grumet said that the first did not realize how the ad would appear when her son was asked to stand on the chair during the photo shoot. “The first time I saw it, I just thought, ugh.” “I thought we were just supporting Dr. Sears in this little article,” Grumet said. “They chose a photo that was a little disconnected and I hated the tagline.”

She says that the new cover, shot a few weeks after the first cover was more of a retort to the first ad, “It was nice to be able to tell our story and show toddler breastfeeding in a way we knew would not be manipulated,” she wrote in her blog.

She says that she was unhappy with the TIME headline, “Are You Mom Enough,” that had attempted to cash in on parent guilt and American cultural breastfeeding taboos. “I really believe wholeheartedly that everyone is trying to do their best for their children,” she says.

Many people had called the title offensive and said that the magazine was trying to whip up “mommy wars” to boost sales, which incidentally they managed to do.

Lori Dorman, the photographer who shot the Pathways cover says,   “My goal was to correct the misperception that was created on the TIME cover. Its message was that nursing a 3-year-old was outrageous and inappropriate, when in fact nursing a 3-year-old is a normal, healthy activity in the world today.”

Pathways said that they were not reproducing the TIME cover picture; instead they would be donating the amount it would have cost them to buy the rights to Attachment Parenting International, the organization that had suggested doing another cover, to correct misconceptions that the earlier ad created.

Grumet said that the new photo evoked fond memories of her childhood, when she would reach for her dad whilst her mom breastfed her, “It was a moment that was captured that was really beautiful. It’s not just about the mother and the child in parenting. It’s really the whole family.”