LactoMama: My Black Breastfeeding Superhero

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LactoMama: My Black Breastfeeding Superhero
by kimberly seals allers posted Friday, May 22, 2009
filed under: kimberly seals allers
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LactoM ama to the rescue! Why more Black women should breastfeed.
Kimberly Seals Allers: When I was pregnant, I had the same recurring dream. I walked around in a red
cape and stiletto-heeled boots with my huge breasts flapping in the wind as I fed my newborn baby:
supplying its every need with free-flowing milk from my bosom. But there's more. I saw myself whipping
into the kitchen and giving my breasts a few pumps to add milk to my older daughter's corn flakes and to
my husband's oatmeal or coffee. I was LactoMama! -- capably supplying all the milk needs of my family.
There was something so empowering to me about
pregnancy and bringing life into the world, and being
able to sustain that life with the most nutritious and
beneficial food, that I dreamed of taking care of
everyone! The feeling was damn near orgasmic. Okay,
and admittedly, a little weird. But breastfeeding made me
feel sexy and powerful. I am a lactating mama, hear me
roar! And oh, that tingling feeling of letdown. I can still
recall it at a moment's notice.
Given my strong feelings about breastfeeding, I felt like
a complete idiot when I learned that lots of Black women
don't take up the cause. In fact, for over 30 years,
African-American women have had the lowest
breastfeeding rates, and though the numbers have
greatly increased in recent years, Black moms still have
the lowest breastfeeding rates of all ethnic groups. And
when it comes to the gold standard of infant nutrition -- six months of exclusive breastfeeding -- among
African-Americans the rate is only 20% compared to 40% among whites. I just don't get it. When you
factor in the health benefits to the baby and the known benefits to the mom -- from quicker weight loss to
decreasing the risk for certain cancers -- breastfeeding seems like an easy call.
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Especially for Black mothers who are in a unique battle with our infants. Our babies die twice as often
before their first birthday than white infants, and studies show that breastfeeding alone helps eliminate
that disparity.
I didn't know why our breastfeeding rates are so low, but I was determined to find out. For several
months, I've been polling Black women at M ochaM anual.com and talking to women formally and
informally in my travels across the country to get to the bottom of the low breastfeeding rates among
Black women. And now momlogic has given much-needed thought, reflection, and cyberspace to this
critical issue. Go ML! Please check out the momlogic and MochaManual special report on Black women
and breastfeeding and join the conversation on how we can increase the ranks of lactating
supermamas! Our babies need us.
Join the conversation about breastfeeding. Did you breastfeed? Tell us why or why not. What
are your thoughts on why Black women don't breastfeed more? Share them in our Community.
Kimberly Seals Allers is an aw ard-w inning business journalist and founder and editor-inchief of MochaManual.com , a w eekly online magazine for moms of color. She is the
author of "The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy" and "The Mocha Manual to
Turning Your Passion into Profit." Kimberly is a divorcing mother of tw o and lives on
Long Island, NY.
See Also:
Black Celebrities Divided on Breastfeeding
The Truth About Black M others and Breastfeeding
Is Slavery Why Black Women Aren't Breastfeeding?
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eivai APRIL 7, 2011, 5:04 PM
She: Get off of me, will you!! He: What’s up, am I hurting you? She: No, you’re annoying me
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