You have to be made of steel to breastfeed twins, but you also have to be made of steel to put up with the discrimination that comes with bottle feeding your babies.

I never knew about the war on bottle feeding before I became a mother three years ago. I wanted to breastfeed my babies, but then when my circumstances moved me to bottle feed my twins, I learned of the existence of breastfeeding “advocates.” Now don’t get me wrong. I support breast feeding, but I also support a mother’s choice.

Bottle feeding mothers should not be made to feel like failures when they’re not; that they are not enough of a mom when they are; that they didn’t try their best when they did; and that they don’t care enough when they do. This can be demoralizing to a new mother who is already quite possibly feeling guilt or a sense of failure, and possibly even struggling with post-partum depression.

The mothers who are able to breastfeed their multiples are blessed. Most moms do wish they could successfully breastfeed their babies. Statistics from the CDC show that (in the US) 76.9% of mothers attempt to breastfeed their babies, but only 36% are still exclusively breast feeding at three months of age.

The reasons for bottle feeding versus breast feeding can be numerous. Sometimes babies have milk intolerance. Other times, a mother needs to be on medications that would be dangerous if passed on to her babies. A mother may have had a breast reduction that inhibits the ability to breast feed, or she may have a difficult time with milk supply for a number of other reasons. Some babies have such a difficult time latching on that it leads to painful and bleeding nipples. Others have suffered through the barbaric discomfort of being milked by a machine because their babies are in the NICU. Many mothers have to return to work and let their child be fed by a caregiver; sometimes with previously pumped milk, and others with formula. Other mothers face post-partum depression, and that can lead to or be caused by many of these or other birthing issues. The last thing that mother needs to hear is the narrow opinion of someone who hasn’t walked in her shoes.

Once you get past the degrading remarks from strangers and friends who are exclusively partial to breast feeding, you have to realize that you are doing what is best for your family…

… To read the rest of this article and learn more about how we as parents can all support each other instead of being at war with each other on an issue that shouldn’t be an issue at all, turn to page 20-21 of the Summer 2013 issue of Multiplicity Magazine.

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