Breastfeeding is becoming the new normal among mothers today. The Indiana State Breastfeeding Plan 2016-2021 states that breastfeeding has significant benefits for infants and mothers.
The benefits for infants include a decreased risk of childhood asthma, ear infections and gastro-intestinal infections. Benefits for mothers include a decreased risk of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, post-partum depression and more. Despite these benefits, Black mothers are less likely to breastfeed their children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that initiation rates among moms who breastfeed are up, but still only includes 59 percent of Blacks compared to 75 percent of whites and 80 percent of Latinos. Why does this disparity exist, and how can we encourage more Black moms to breastfeed?
In 2014, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the CDC noted that racial disparities between Black and white mothers exist due to access to maternity care services.
The report states that hospitals found in ZIP codes that had a higher Black population were less likely to help mothers initiate breastfeeding, support infants spending the majority of their time in the same rooms as their moms and limit infants to breast milk only.
The report also found the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) offices, which had a higher percentage of Black clients, were least likely to offer client-based breastfeeding support. In addition to receiving adequate breastfeeding support through maternity care services, Black mothers have many other cultural factors to face when considering providing their child with the “best” milk.
Many believe that our cultural association of being wet nurses during slavery still haunts Black mothers of this era. During slavery, many Black mothers were forced to provide nourishment to the children of slave owners, which in turn led to the inability to provide sufficient food to their own infants.
In an article “Distant Echoes of Slavery Affect Breastfeeding Attitudes of Black Women,” researcher and certified mid-wife, Stephanie Devane-Johnson, found that many participants of her research still had these beliefs.
The article states that some focus group participants thought “Breastfeeding was a white thing” and “white men used to steal the slaves’ milk.” Devane-Johnson also found that many older Black women wanted to disassociate themselves with slavery and wet-nursing by not breastfeeding their children. This cultural impact passed down through generations of Black women discourages our new mothers from breastfeeding and creates a negative stigma.
With these barriers, whether cultural or socio-economic, we are not going to increase the number of Black mothers who breastfeed unless we talk about it our community. I breastfed my son for nine months, and I was fortunate to have been surrounded with friends and a mother-in-law who ventured to provide this nourishment for their children.
However, when I asked my grandmother and other women in my family about breastfeeding, many said they did not use this practice to feed our family members. As a Southern Belle hailing from Virginia, I yearned to have these discussions with the women of my family only to realize they didn’t exist.
As Black Breastfeeding Week approaches on Aug. 25–31, encourage and support Black women to breastfeed their babies. Breastfeeding is the best food to give a newborn; it reduces infant mortality, upper respiratory infections, diabetes and asthma — all health issues that plague the Black community. Let’s give our children the best fighting start in life by offering breast milk first.
Monique Hill French, MPH, is the director of tobacco control and advocacy at the American Lung Association in Indiana. She can be reached at moniquemhill@gmail.com.
