Zoe Williams reports on the feeding frenzy caused by the women daring to challenge the 'breast is best' orthodoxy

On the cover of Time magazine, there's a three-year-old standing on a stool, breastfeeding. A combination of his height, and maybe the stool, means that he looks about seven. Three is not that old, in the world of "extended" breastfeeding, but seven is giving it some by anybody's standards. The mother, Jamie Lynne Grumet, said, "I understand some of the breastfeeding advocates are actually upset about this," which is most probably true. There's a tipping point, in the world of breastfeeding advocates: they are evangelical to the point of dogmatism about the desirability of breastfeeding an under-two, go a bit quiet between two and three, then back right off, on the tacit understanding that extended breastfeeders make them all look weird.

Read more ....