Nursing mothers come to aid of NYC twins

Nursing mothers from across the tri-state area have come together to pump breast milk for Manhattan twins who lost their mother last Thanksgiving during childbirth.

The goal is to provide 40 ounces of breast milk every day for twins Jackson James Snyder and Reverie Vivian Snyder, said friends and relatives of the twins and their mother, Michal Lura Friedman, 44. She died on Thanksgiving after undergoing a C-section procedure and giving birth to the twins at NYU Langone Hospital in Manhattan.

"Michal really wanted her babies to be breast-fed," said her sister, Maitreya Rich, 27, who is pumping breast milk for her niece and nephew while also breast-feeding her 14-month-old daughter, Violet. "It was important to her because she knew breast milk would give her babies the immunities and nutrients they needed."

The breast milk drive was spurred soon after Friedman died. Rich's longtime college friend, Jessica Provenz, 27, of Pennington, N.J., formerly of Merrick, mobilized members of the Modern Tribal Mamas Facebook Web page. The Web page is used by nursing mothers to share their breast-feeding experiences.

"The response is overwhelming -- just amazing," Provenz said. "We are getting donations from women in Queens, Long Island, Upper Manhattan and New Jersey. The women are really moved by this story and they want to do whatever they can."

Lindsay Murphy, president of LongIslandBreastfeeding.com and founder of Modern Tribal Mamas, said she started the website because she realized there was little support for breastfeeding moms who sometimes become discouraged and buckle under the pressure to feed their babies formula.

"The biggest myth out there is that you cannot produce enough milk which is 100 percent totally wrong," said Murphy, a breast-feeding counselor.

One drop-off last week included 250 ounces of breast milk. The breast milk is handed off to family members or friends at Times Square or Penn Station. The milk is packed in plastic bags and iced in coolers.

"It was a moving experience to deliver the milk to the family and meet the father," said Illana Deutsch Robinson of Great Neck. "He was really humbled by what we were doing for his children."

Robinson, mother of an 8-month-old boy, said "donating breast milk is instinctual . . . We should be a community of support for each other."

The twins' father said seeing so many people come forward to help his children has given him hope as he grieves over their mother's death.

"These acts of generosity and kindness is an amazing example of how a terrible situation brings out the good in the world," said the twins' father, Jay Snyder, 42. "It's remarkable how these women who are not related to me have come out to help my kids."

The family is asking for donations, and donors can go on the family Website, thesnydertwins.com.