I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the variety of posts here on How Do You Do It? on the subject of infant nutrition, whether breast milk, formula, or some combination. Obviously, there have been several posts over the past several days, but there’s a larger body of wisdom and experience that The HDYDI Moms have gathered here over the years.

Breastfeeding

• Ask the Moms: How to Tandem Nurse: Nine of the HDYDI moms share their stories and techniques for breastfeeding their twins simultaneously.
• “We did it!” Breastfeeding Multiples: Jamie’s preemies breastfed exclusively. Jamie tells us what worked for her.
• Can breastfeeding multiples work? Rebecca lets us know that nursing multiples, while often agonizingly difficult, isn’t all-consumingly difficult for all MoMs. It wasn’t for her.
• Ask-the-MoMs: Moo Moo: Tracey tells us all about tandem nursing.
• Ask the Moms – Ask the Readers! In this post, Momma Miriam seeks advice from the HDYDI community on what approach to take with her breastfeeding challenges.
• Foodie Friday: Breastfeeding takes forever? Rebecca gives us a few pointers to speed up nursing sessions so that you have time for showers and diaper changes.
• Normalizing Breastfeeding for Older Kids: I do my best to ensure that my (relatively) big kids see breastfeeding as a normal part of the human condition.
• Mom’s First Christmas: Jenna gives us some great ideas for small gifts that are nice for a breastfeeding mom.
• Foodie Friday: Breastfeeding newborn twins: Rebecca separates the bad advice from the good.
• Guest Post: Breastfeeding two year old twins: Eva guest posts about the extended breastfeeding of her twins and dealing with judgmental people.
• How DO People Do It?: MamaCyn wonders how people manage toddlers while breastfeeding infants without help.
• Ask the Moms, part 18 – Nursing in Public: Goddess in Progress puts together a list of recommendations from The Moms for nursing your babies when out and about.

Expressed Breast Milk (EBM)

• Breastfeeding Woes: Lunchldyd has provided all three of her children with expressed breast milk, but never fed them directly from the breast.
• Foodie Friday: Breastfeeding Twins: Rebecca pulls together advice from The Moms for a reader who doesn’t produce as much milk when she has to pump at work as when she’s nursing her babes.
• Pumping For Advice: Craftylissa talks about pumping when you have a full-time job.

Breast Milk and Formula

• Breastmilk, Meet Formula: Part I and Breastmilk, Meet Formula: Part II RebeccaD added formula to her nutritional arsenal, but finds herself nursing 3-4 times per night as the end of their first year begins to draw near.
• What I Wish Someone Told Me: Beatrice talks about the advice she gives expecting MoMs.
• When Breastfeeding Doesn’t Go As Planned: MandyE wanted to breastfeed and made it to 3 months with formula supplementation before switching over to 100% formula.
• Working Mom Nursing Twins: I had a few curve balls thrown my way, but managed to make it to 7 months with my pair before abandoning nursing altogether.
• When breastfeeding multiples “fails” and From the archives: When breastfeeding multiples “fails” LauraC tells us about the challenges she contended with in her attempt to breastfeed and how switching to formula was the right call for her family.

Formula Feeding

• Two Late to Take It Back: Shawn’s milk never came in. And that’s okay.
• Product Review: Our Favorite Choice of Bottles!: A 2008 review of baby bottles by twinmom122606. Of course, there are probably a zillion new and improved options by now.
• Corn Syrup in My Babies’ Formula?: The title pretty much says it all. It didn’t occur to me to check the ingredients.
• This Post Is Long Because Getting Out Of The House Each Morning Starts A Week Before: Rachel talks about preparing for infant daycare, including formula prep.

Feeding Tube

We don’t actually have any posts on long-term NG-tube feeding on HDYDI yet, but we have a couple of post-NICU feeding tube mamas in our ranks. If you have questions, please let us know.

Weaning

• Quitting Breastfeeding: Jen W shares the emotional letter she wrote to her boys the day she stopped breastfeeding.
• Saying Goodbye to the Breastpump: Lunchldyd decides not to try to pump after she returns to work.
• Weaning on Two (or Three!) Different Timelines: Jenna talks about how weaning works when your kids are ready at different times.
• Ask the Moms – Milk Transition: Goddess in Progress seeks advice on transitioning off the breast/bottle.
• So Long, Farewell, Adieu: Goddess in Progress celebrates the end of her children’s formula era.

Infant Feeding in General

• Breastfeeding Buddies: Twin Brothers Nurse while Living in the NICU Carolyn – Twintrospectives gives us concrete advice on breastfeeding in the NICU and using the professional expertise available at the hospital.
• Twinfant Tuesday: How I’m Rocking Year One (so far!) MarisaB talks about her techniques for balancing it all.
• The 4am Feed: Lunchldyd gives us her secrets to nighttime feeding efficiency.
• Energy-Smart Nutrition for New Moms Meredith Kimelblatt gives us some pointers for keeping ourselves nourished while we nourish our little ones.

Phew. Is anyone else emotionally worn out from the heartfelt intensity of the breastfeeding posts here and elsewhere over the last few days? I cried writing my own post and cried again reading the others. It was cathartic, but it hurt like crazy.

Feeding our infants strikes me as being representative of motherhood in general. We put every part of ourselves into being the best moms we can be, but we never feel that we’re doing quite enough. Or maybe that’s just me.

Do you have other online infant feeding resources to share? Please tell us about them in the comments.

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