Released on Thursday, the May 2012 cover by TIME Magazine has fueled an ever raging fire about public attitudes towards breastfeeding.

The cover features 26 year old mum, Jamie Lynne Grumet, breastfeeding her three year old son who stands on a small chair to reach her. The headline reads, “Are you mom enough?” and refers to the world of attachment parenting.

Beyond the cover, the inside article is an interview with Dr. Bill Sears, a leading voice in the world of attachment parenting. Dr. Sears encourages parents to breastfeed into toddlerhood, co-sleep and “wear” their children to limit time apart from each other.

Despite supporting breastfeeding into toddlerhood, the cover for the article on attachment parenting has been described as “exploitative and extreme”.

Along with hundreds of other users, new mum, Alyssa Milano, hit back at TIME magazine on her Twitter feed reaching 2,000,000 of her followers.

Other mum’s are hitting out over the headline, “Are you Mom enough?” with some quotes including, @DaniKDub”It’s not the image that bugs me, but the headline. Very offensive. We are ALL ‘mom enough’, breastfeeding or not.”

Critics are calling the controversial magazine cover “a desperate attempt to sell magazines?” (@fusionstylemag).

Fans of the cover choice include @marco9962 who called the cover courageous, “Extreme is called for. our culture needs a get-the-f***-over-it smack in the face. I applaud this courageous cover!”

What does the law tell us about breastfeeding in public?

In the UK, there are laws in place to protect breastfeeding mothers from being criticised, asked to move, asked to cover up or asked to stop completely.

In this video interview, family law expert, Alan Susskind from Harper Macleod explains how mothers are protected by the law and what they can do if they are criticised or asked to move when feeding in public.

Does the law actually protect mums?

Despite mums knowing they are protected by the law, there are still recent reports of mums being asked to move on or stop feeding in the UK. Read about the nine breastfeeding in public incidences that have happened over the past year.

Mindful Mum speaks to flash mob mum, Claire Jones-Hughes

Claire Jones-Hughes was one of the mums who was approached when breastfeeding her baby in her favourite restaurant. Members of the public approached her and told her it was ‘unpleasant’ to watch her feed her child and that she should have made more effort to cover up. Feeling vulnerable and chastised, Claire rallied her friends and other mums of Brighton and staged a breastfeeding flash mob to raise awareness of the stigma many mums face. Read more about her story here.

Claire’s opinion on TIME’s cover is this, “In my view, the cover is a cheap media trick to draw people into the article about a man who has been helping to empower mothers through attachment parenting techniques. It is irresponsible of Time Magazine as we really need to normalise various aspects of attachment parenting and sparking up this sort of debate over a cover picture to sell magazines is self-serving.”

Support other mums

Whether you love or hate the TIME magazine cover, support other mums in their choice to breastfeed or bottle feed.

If you’re a breastfeeding mum, you might find these comebacks for breastfeeding critics helpful if you ever run into an incident of your own.

And trust us, we are ALL mum enough!