By Genevieve Shaw Brown,
Maya Vorderstrasse is a New Jersey mom who feeds her two babies in different ways: one by breast and one by bottle.
She wants to the world to know: Fed is best.
In a now-viral Instagram photo of her feeding Zoey, 13 months, and Hazel, 2 months, Vorderstrasse shares her journey down two different paths that are often at odds with one another in the parenting world.
“We had to start bottle feeding and I thought our bond would disappear and that she would think I was not providing for her, until it hit me: nothing had changed,” she continued. “It was still our time, she’d still grab my hair and smile at me with her eyes. She was so happy. Fed. Loved.”
Vorderstrasse told ABC News she was inspired to post the photo after preparing Zoey’s nighttime bottle, right after breastfeeding Hazel.
“All of a sudden,” she said, “my mind revisited everything we had gone through. It was such a powerful memory and I felt so grateful to be at a good place today. I thought that it was not possible that other women weren’t going through this. I had the idea of posting a picture that represented my journey, so other mothers would know that they will be OK, and to not waste time feeling bad about their feeding choices.”
Read more at ABC News.