Breast feeding has become a heated and divisive topic lately and, quite frankly, the messages are confusing.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all mothers breastfeed for a full year or longer if the mother is willing and able.

Mothers are getting mixed messages and little support for their parenting decisions.

Dr. Bill Sears, the father of a child-rearing philosophy called attachment parenting and author of the well-known parenting manual, The Baby Book, is credited with redefining motherhood.

It turns out that he and his wife Martha had written a lot of earlier books about attachment parenting before The Baby Book, including one with an evangelical approach. I also came across a book the Searses wrote in 1982 based on another book called The Continuum Concept, which I traced back to a college dropout who had become fascinated by child care in the Venezuelan jungle. “We read the book and thought, Well, this is neat,” says Sears.

Where do you weigh in on the debate?