THE POWER OF MOTHERS

It was incredibly heartening to see the hundreds of comments in response to Dr. Miriam Stoppard's irresponsible and inaccurate article on breastfeeding - not only did she appear not to know the WHO code, but she referred to many beneficial and normal attachment parenting techniques that are known to have been practised by man throughout history and across the globe as "extreme". Here is a group of Dani mothers breast feeding their infants in the Baliem Valley, at Irian Jaya, New Guinea, Indonesia. (From Photographers Direct) - they know nothing of modern western parenting, and do what is natural and what feels right.

The TIME magazine cover appears to have provided the basis for her entirely subjective and reactive piece.

So, let's look at a couple of other images.. Here is, top, an image of a nursing dyad from Uganda (Mauro Fermariello, Sciencephoto), an older child looking into the camera - why is this shocking? Looks normal and healthy to me! Neither exploitative or extreme!
And then, the next beautifully adorned woman is an Embera Indian breastfeeding her child in the Soberania Forest National Park, Panama, Central America (Robert Harding Picture Library) - she is looking ahead, and not at her child - so is this unnaceptable?
Women of the world going about their normal parenting business, Dr Miriam!

And here I am with my daughter, several years ago, in a London park.
I doubt that any of us mothers thinks that we need to tell our children how to wean - they can do it quite capably all by themselves.

You can see the Mirror article and read the comments, here...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/when-should-you-stop-breast-feeding-1259599

Well done to all who responded with the facts!

We are really a strong and empowered group, showing that we can unite in force against formula manufacturers, aggressive advertising, and ill-informed opinion.
Of course, sometimes these are one and the same.