Sharon Muza, BS, CD(DONA), BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
August is all about breastfeeding and chestfeeding. The first week of August is World Breastfeeding Week, all of August is National Breastfeeding Month in the United States, and the last week of August is Black Breastfeeding Week here in the U.S.
Both birth and postpartum doulas play a critical role in helping families to meet their breastfeeding goals. For a variety of reasons, many new parents have difficulties in exclusively breastfeeding and maintaining the breastfeeding relationship as their baby grows. Black parents face even more challenges than their white peers. Lack of access to prenatal education, supportive providers knowledgeable in the parent-baby dyad, no paid or even unpaid parental leave, a community with too few lactation consultants, unsupportive employers who do not provide time and privacy for a parent to pump and cultural barriers including a shameful cultural history of white slave owners requiring Black nursing mothers to feed the slave owner’s children while depriving the Black parent’s baby from nourishment.
We know that breastmilk is the perfect food for babies, and can help reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality. Black babies are more likely to die in the first weeks and even the first year than their white counterparts. Breastfeeding can help reduce this disparity. This year’s theme is Bet on Black and all week there have been many events on a national and local level.
Today, in honor of Black Breastfeeding Week, I wanted to collate a collection of my favorite videos that promote, celebrate and educate Black parents breastfeeding their babies. I hope that you enjoy them and consider sharing them with your clients.
These videos are just a few resources that doulas can share with their Black clients to help them meet their breastfeeding goals. When you lean in to help your Black clients to have a successful breastfeeding relationship, you are helping Black families to keep their babies healthy and reduce some of the health disparities that they face, especially during infancy. Check out the Black Breastfeeding Week website for additional resources and tools to share with your families. Bet on Black!