Happy Black Women's Breastfeeding Week. Check out this BUST flashback on the importance of supporting Black women and people who breastfeed. blackbreastfeedingweek BBFW22 breastfeeding nationalbreastfeedingmonth
Breastfeeding is one of the best preventative natural medicines: it has the power to reduce the risk of respiratory infections, Type II diabetes, and asthma, and provides many other health benefits. However, not all women are able to do so: Black women are significantly less likely to breastfeed than any race. Data collated by the CDC demonstrates that compared to 75% of white women, only 58.9% of Black women breastfeed their children, and this has been the case for over 40 years.
ADVERTISEMENT — ESSENCE August 26, 2020 The history of breastfeeding inequities for Black women is grounded in slavery. In the 18th century, a practice known as ‘wet nursing’ became commonplace: enslaved women were forced to breastfeed the white children of slaveholders. This practice emerged out of white women’s desires to avoid the cultural stigmatization of breastfeeding, which at the time was considered “uncultured” and lowered one’s stature.
While the reasons behind it have evolved, the disproportionate mortality rate of Black babies has persisted to this day. Black babies die at twice the rate of white babies. This is largely due to their being born too small, sick, or too soon: all of which point to a higher necessity for breast milk. Research demonstrates that increased breastfeeding among black women could decrease infant mortality rates by as much as 50%.
This discrimination falls disproportionately on Black women as well, who have a long history of being overly sexualized and degraded for being promiscuous. Not only does this foster a culture of hostility towards women who breastfeed, but it also negatively impacts the sexual health and rights of Black women.
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