Time Magazine's New Cover Stirs Up Controversy

By Diana Rocco

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Time Magazine's cover shocker has just about everyone talking.

"I breastfed, but definitely not for that long!" said one mother.

"That is very shocking to me," said Kathryn Panzer, a nanny and nursing student

Mother Sonja Jameson said, "It's a choice I decided not to do, but I mean, it's something that's natural. It's not something that bothers me."

The picture of a 26-year-old Los Angeles mother and blogger breastfeeding her nearly four-year-old son to illustrate so-called "attachment parenting" has gone viral.

"It does have shock value," said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter of Cooper University Hospital. Dr. Winter also serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics policy board on breast feeding. She says studies show no reason for parents to worry about breastfeeding toddlers.

"Prolonged breast feeding only provides benefits," Dr. Winter said. "There's no harm, whether it's physical harm, emotional harm, psychological harm."

But she does question whether a child should be this kind of cover model.

"I think it's a little bit of exploitation to have a child who wouldn't necessarily be able to consent to participating in being photographed and displayed in this manner," said Dr. Winter.

Moms we talked to agree that breastfeeding late is a personal choice.

Jameson said. "I don't think we should really be judging at all. 'Oh, she didn't breastfeed at all! She's breastfeeding until he's 3!' What does it matter, you know?"

The cover story in Time Magazine talks about attachment parenting, discussed by Dr. William Sears in "The Baby Book." They say parents typically fall into three groups and that the women highlighted in the article are the extreme cases.