Mayim Bailik Slams Time Magazine's Attachment Parenting Cover for Causing Competition Among Mothers

Actress Mayim Bailik has slammed the recent Time magazine over its attachment parenting cover.

The 36-year-old mother of two, who breastfeeds her three-year-old son Fred, told Anderson Cooper that the magazine's cover has encouraged mothers to be critical of one another.

Dr Bailik tells Cooper on a new episode of Anderson which airs later today: 'Time magazine has made this a competition, "are you mom enough?" None of us [attachment parents] feel that way.'

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The magazine's cover, which had featured the headline Are You Mom Enough?, had showed Jamie Lynne Grumet, a 26-year-old mother from Los Angeles, breastfeeding her almost four-year-old son.

Dr Bialik, who is an attachment parenting advocate and also stars on the TV series The Big Bang Theory, added that the controversial method is extremely misunderstood.

 'I think a lot of people hear this term and think a lot of things, that there's some attachment parenting police, that if you have a c-section, you're out.

'If you don't breastfeed, you're out... it's simply not that.'

She was joined on the talk show by fellow actress Rebecca Romijn, who was also quizzed about the parenting technique.

 Romijn, a mother of two who does not practice attachment parenting, said it sounds 'exhausting' to her.

She said: 'Because you don't get a break in attachment parenting, your child is always around.

'As a mom, you have to make sure you're happy for your children to be happy and you have to make sure your husband or your partner is happy so your children can see that.'

Dr Bialik argued that parenting is exhausting 'any way you cut it. I think it's erroneous to assume that people who participate in attachment parenting don't also believe that.

We may believe it differently and it may look differently... it may not look like weekends away with my husband a month after my baby is born, it may not look like I'm at the spa and out with my girlfriends.'

 Romijn, who is married to actor Jerry O'Connell, shot back at Dr Bialik: 'Well, I've never done any of that either.'

She added that some elements of attachment parenting frightened her.

The technique involves parents co-sleeping with their children in order to ensure their safety throughout the night.

 Romijn said: 'That was always my biggest fear, my giant husband, who doesn't miss a second of sleep, rolling over my baby.'

 Cooper added that some doctors believes there is the technique could lead to sudden infant death syndrome also.

But Dr Bialik, who wrote the book titled Beyond The Sling: A Real-Life Guide To Raising Confident, Loving Children The Attachment Parenting Way, argued that 'that doesn't happen.'

 'The notion is sleeping near a child safely, whether that's sharing a bed surface safely or having them near you. It make sense, it facilitates breastfeeding.'

She gave further insight into the life of her children; Fred and Miles, six.

She told  Cooper: 'We have two beds on the floor next to each other. Honestly there is a natural desire for independence at night that does come.'

Comparing the feelings to those of a romantic couple, she added: 'Most adults you know do not want to sleep alone, it's not normal, it is normal to want to be close to someone who loves you at night.

'There's nothing weird about it.'