This week is National Black Breastfeeding Awareness Week
Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
By Lucille Lannigan
[email protected]
ALBANY – The city of Albany officially recognized health inequities that Black families face when it comes to breastfeeding and declared the week of Aug. 25 as National Black Breastfeeding Awareness week, on Aug. 20.
Albany Mayor Bo Dorough signed the proclamation, joined by four members of the SOWEGA Birth Workers Collective, a group dedicated to training birth workers and providing southwest Georgia with doula services. The group has public events planned each day Aug. 25 through Aug. 31 to educate the community on breastfeeding and connect mothers with resources locally.
The month of August is dedicated to chestfeeding awareness as a whole but this last week is dedicated to Black mothers.
Bianca Hamilton, the co-founder of the Collective, said studies prove that breastfeeding leads to better outcomes that span generationally, like reducing chronic illness and childhood obesity.
She said the emphasis on the Black community is because Black people face the highest disparity in breastfeeding rates due to factors like poverty, low income. Because Black mothers have to go back to work, breastfeeding rates diminish around three months postpartum.
Hamilton said thirty to 40% of Black mothers breastfeed postpartum, compared to about 60 to 70% of white mothers who continue to breastfeed at that time. This has generational impacts, especially because Black people have higher rates of chronic illness and poor health outcomes, according to the CDC.
Inequities in breastfeeding also lead to more black infants being born too small, too sick and too soon and therefore susceptible to virus and infections, putting them at risk of illness and death, the proclamation read.
Increased breastfeeding among black infants could actually decrease chronic health issues and infant mortality rates, and the CDC recommends it.
Sharri Anderson, a doula and member of the collective, said their hope is to increase awareness on the importance of breastfeeding and also decrease the stigma around it in the community.
“We want to let people know that it’s okay, and it’s normal,” she said. “We were created to feed our children. It helps babies, and it helps mothers.”
The public is welcome to all events for National Black Breastfeeding Week. This is the schedule:
Sunday: Doula Meet and Greet at Tift Park (1301 N Monroe St, Albany, GA, 31701) 3-530pm
- Monday: County Proclamation Signing with Dougherty County Commissioners at 10am
- Tuesday: Virtual Lactation Education Class 6-8pm
- Wednesday: Maternal and Infant Health Advocacy with Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies of Georgia at the Change Center (500 Pine Ave, Albany, GA, 31701) 10am-12pm
- Thursday: Adult Coloring for Lactation Support (Northwest Library-2507 Dawson Road, Albany, GA, 31707) 5:30 – 7:30pm Friday: Fundraiser Spotlight at Sonny’s BBQ all week long (1900 N Slappey Blvd, Albany, GA, 31701)
- Saturday: Virtual African-American Birthwork Studies Class 10am-6pm
Attendees can register at www.sowegabirthworkerscollective.org
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