Overview: Black Breastfeeding Week, an annual awareness week that addresses the disparities among Black women and the stigma associated with breastfeeding, aims to highlight the significance of Black breastfeeding and reclaim what belongs to us as well as centering our stories for breastfeeding justice. Studies have shown that Black infants have a lower rate of breastfeeding compared to their white counterparts due to a lack of knowledge about breastfeeding, inadequate support from health care institutions, and social norms. The California Department of Health noted that the law protects the right to breastfeed or chestfeed in public, with or without a covering, in hopes of reducing stigmatization and embarrassment which lead to barriers to breastfeeding.
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Infants who are breastfed have reduced risk of asthma, obesity and Type 1 diabetes, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Black infants have a lower rate of breastfeeding compared to their white counterparts.
August 25 through August 31 marks Black Breastfeeding Week, an annual awareness week that addresses the disparities among Black women and the stigma associated with breastfeeding. Created in 2012 by three Black reproductive and maternal health experts, Kimberly Seals Allers, Kiddada Green and Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka, this year’s theme for Black Breastfeeding Week is “Reclaiming Our Narrative & Centering Our Stories for Breastfeeding Justice.”
As studies examine the breastfeeding rates and factors that contribute to the lower rate of breastfeeding among Black families, advocates continue to provide resources, educate and create safe spaces for communities to provide narratives and context to these rates.
“It’s highlighting the significance of Black breastfeeding because for so long and so often, our community has been told that we shouldn’t breastfeed or have been offered formula instead of actually being offered breastfeeding opportunities,” said Aiyana Davison, a certified nurse midwife and founder of The Village House.
According to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study that examined infants born in 2015, “among all infants, Black infants had a significantly lower rate of any breastfeeding at age 3 months (58%) than did white infants (72.7%).” The rate was also lower among infants at six months.
The study recognized that Black mothers experience a greater number of barriers to breastfeeding, including a lack of knowledge about breastfeeding, inadequate support from health care institutions, and social norms.
Black Breastfeeding Week is an opportunity for Black mothers and community health advocates to “reclaim what belongs to us as well, especially with the longstanding history of enslavement and things like wet nursing, where we were breastfeeding other people’s babies before we were breastfeeding our own,” Davison explained.
Historically, enslaved new mothers were forced to serve as wet nurses for slave owners’ children, pulling them away from breastfeeding their own children, according to law professor Andrea Freeman in her article written for the Hastings Law Review Journal.
Divided into three parts, Freeman’s article “demonstrates how society has consistently devalued Black maternal love bestowed on Black children” and “explores how the aspirations of pediatricians to legitimize an emerging medical field and evolving technologies of artificial milk perpetuated the racial divide in breastfeeding.”
Her article also traces the practices and policies that have contributed to racial disparities in breastfeeding rates among Black women, including intense formula marketing tragedies in the 1950s (Pet Milk), the distribution of free formula through government programs, a lack of “baby-friendly requirements” in hospitals and inadequate workplace breastfeeding accommodations.
In California, the law protects the right to breastfeed or chestfeed in public, with or without a covering, in hopes of reducing stigmatization and embarrassment which lead to barriers to breastfeeding, the California Department of Public Health noted.
With awareness campaigns like National Breastfeeding Month and Black Breastfeeding Week, advocates seek to educate and provide resources to those who are unaware about lactation rights, support groups and community gatherings that encourage discourse surrounding breastfeeding or chestfeeding.
“I want folks to know that breastfeeding, just like labor and birth, is a normal physiological function of our bodies. We’re designed to feed our babies from ourselves. But also, I want people to feel uplifted in the methods and how they feed their baby because sometimes, for whatever reasons,” Davison explained. “Sometimes there are hiccups with breastfeeding, and it might not be as readily accessible, even though it seems easy access.”
Breastfeeding can be hard and tiresome, but there are several resources for those in need of support. Across the Inland Empire, there are lactation experts like Devona Robertson, doula and lactation consultant, and Janisha Howard, a student of the International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. Howard hosts weekly support circles via Zoom.
This week amplifies the stories of Black mothers, organizations across the Inland Empire are hosting events to commemorate the week:
- Black Infant Health, presented by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, is hosting a family friendly event on Thursday, August 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m in San Bernardino.
- The Sankofa Birthworkers Collective of the Inland Empire and The Village House is hosting a community event that welcomes “any past or present parents who have every given or desired to give their babies human milk” on Saturday, August 31 from 12:00 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Moreno Valley.
Additional support resources also include:
- The Inland Empire Breastfeeding Coalition hosts weekly and monthly educational virtual meetings about lactation and breastfeeding. Additionally, the Black Breastfeeding Task Force holds virtual monthly meetings every 4th Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Milky Mama, a Black-owned company that produces lactation treats and beverages to support breastfeeding.