One of the reasons we celebrate Black Breastfeeding Week is because it is a health equity call to action, according to Bintou Diarra, Editorial Lead at Mama Glow, MS2 at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. “The research consistently shows breastfed babies have lower sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, diabetes, and ear infections,” she says. “But for the parent, there is also research that says [they] may be less likely to develop ovarian and breast cancer.” Diarra notes that because our community has been systematically unable to access this information, our health has been undermined.”
Latham Thomas, the founder of The Mama Glow Movement (above), says one of the conversations we should have in our community is about the first food justice framework. “Reproductive agency is not just about birth or birth control. It is about the right to give birth, raise children, and explore options with an understanding of the full extent of what’s available,” she explains.
“The first food justice framework is important because it illuminates the sad reality that FOR generations, Black women and Birthing people, were systematically undermined in the practice of breastfeeding.”
“I use the term systematically intentionally here—through generations of trauma as slave owners forced Black women and birthing people to take on roles as wet nurses, to intentional aggressive marketing to low-income Black and Brown mothers—societal conditions have managed to limit Black women’s understanding of the full extent of what is possible when it comes to feeding our babies. The first food justice framework is one way we can also think about the interweaving of structural racism and harmful policies on the livelihoods of Black people from the very beginning,” Thomas notes.
Magnifying the Message
According to Diarra, a challenge is breastfeeding is often considered a personal decision. “But the reason Black women are consistently breastfeeding at such low rates is that this is a structural issue.”
To address the systemic issues, Mama Glow developed a course in which they’ve trained 100 Lactation Specialists—30 students in the first cohort, 70 in the second—equipped to go out into our communities and provide the much-needed education and support that has been missing.
“The first food justice framework where all babies have the full right to eat, and most importantly, their caregivers have the full right to feed. And you can’t have that full right without being given the benefit and drawbacks of all your options,” Diarra (right) explains. “That’s what the course is trying to get at; we’re framing these as individual choices. But what we have seen consistently with breastfeeding in Black communities is we’re not strategically taught the full scope of how beneficial breastfeeding can be.”
Marketing Designed as a Distraction
Several contributing factors lead to Black birthing people not breastfeeding. Aggressive marketing tactics, which push formula, are among them. “The barriers ironically speak to the importance of the first food justice framework. One of them is the tendency of the infant formula industry to employ aggressive marketing tactics, Thomas points out.
“Another barrier is the enduring, generational, psychological wound that [accompanied] our country’s degradation of Black bodies. As slave owners increasingly relied on enslaved wet nurses to provide nutrition for their babies, they simultaneously traumatized Black people’s relationships with this bodily practice,” Thomas says.
“Breastfeeding became an optimal source of nutrition reserved for white infants, white enslaved. In contrast, enslaved mothers were forced to ignore the nutritional and emotional needs of their precious Back infants, who were often left malnourished.” she continued.
“It is inspiring to see people on the ground working to recognize and heal these wounds, rather than dismiss the issue of low breastfeeding rates as simply a matter of choice.”
We are Also Talking About Restorative Justice.
The Social Determinants of Health often factor into our story, and they are present even with breastfeeding. According to Thomas, Restorative Justice within the breastfeeding world is one step in validating our community’s tumultuous history with the United States. “It’s a commitment to honoring the entanglement of chattel slavery with our daily lives and practices. We are all infants before we are adults, so thinking about the issues facing the most vulnerable allows us to imagine better futures for ourselves,” the Mama Glow founder says. “Thinking about forces that are working against us even before birth allows us to address the Social Determinants of Health and center solutions that the thriving of our community as Black folks.”
A Larger Mission
The mission of Mama Glow is to transform the landscape of maternal health and bridge policy gaps, creating a safer world for mothers and birthing people. “At Mama Glow, we work tirelessly to nurture those who nurture. We live in a country that has failed to do that, especially for Black women and birthing people,” Thomas says. “Our world-renowned professional doula training program, which has touched thousands of lives and people across six or seven continents, is just one tool in the arsenal that allows us to make a transformative impact.”
