Beginnings

Before my twins were born, I didn’t have a lot of information on breastfeeding twins. But I’m a researcher, so I did my best to get the information I thought I needed. When I met a mom who was nursing her twins at an event through my local mothers of twins club, it was the first time I’d ever seen anyone tandem nurse. I read an old version of Mothering Multiples. I took a breastfeeding class. The instructor said, “You’re having twins? Ohhh – it’s different for you.” – but couldn’t really tell me how it would be different, or what to do about it. I met with a lactation consultant in the hospital, and another after we went home. But perhaps the best support I received was from friends online – from women whose twins were weeks or months or years older than mine, who had been down this path and were generously willing to share their experiences and advice, and provide a much needed sense of community and varied models of “success” with breastfeeding.

One in particular, a blogger whose twins were a bit older, began compiling stories from other breastfeeding moms of multiples to support the women who found her site through Google searches for “breastfeeding preemie twins” or “breastfeeding twins too hard”. When she moved to a new password-protected blog, I asked if I could find a way to keep those breastfeeding posts accessible. It’s taken me a while, but here’s what I’ve come up with.

BreastfeedingTwins.org will serve as an ongoing resource to support and sustain moms who are breastfeeding twins and higher order multiples. The site will feature posts by a variety of breastfeeding moms talking about their challenges and their triumphs and will offer tips and resources from lactation specialists as well as the “sisterhood” of breastfeeding moms. (You can learn more about the site – and about me – on the site info page.)

Please join us! Share your own breastfeeding story, submit a question, comment and join the discussion. You can also subscribe to our feed to receive updates in your RSS reader or by email, follow us on Twitter (@twinsinmind) or “like” us on Facebook.