Today is the LAST day of Black Breastfeeding Week for this year and while I am very sad to say goodbye, I am very optimistic that all of the posts full of knowledge, love, and SUPPORT will have had a positive and meaningful impact on the breastfeeding community! Not just the women of color, but all breastfeeding women. While this week was specifically about uplifting our “sistas”, I hope that the fact that there’s a week dedicated specifically to the awareness and support of Women of Color breastfeeding their children will help people to see that there is a huge gap! It’s not about putting one group above another or giving one group “special” treatment, the goal was and ALWAYS is to educate and increase health for ALL people!
My big focus for this week was on “the 3 Too’s”: Black babies are being born TOO soon, TOO small, and TOO sick! Yes, this is a problem with ALL babies, but much more so in babies of color. Breastfeeding has been linked to decreasing these issues and encouraging an overall healthier life for mommy and baby, yet the vast majority of Black women don’t breastfeed and the major reason why is lack of education that breastfeeding is a viable and doable option and SUPPORT. So this week was created to help bridge that gap and help these mommies and babies. I’m not sorry if you don’t think dedicating a week to this was necessary; I just hope that you can find understanding later on in life.
Here’s a link that lays out the 5 fundamental reasons for the creation of Black Breastfeeding Week: http://kindredmedia.org/2014/08/happy-black-breastfeeding-week-august-25-31/
So mommies out there, if you ever thought about breastfeeding, but were afraid or just didn’t know if you could do it, PLEASE know that you can! There are lots of people like me who will help you through the hard times and figure out how to make it work! All you have to do is to ask for help.
And for your viewing and encouraging pleasure, here are some pictures of me, a young, strong BLACK woman breastfeeding her daughter. 🙂 This photo shoot was done by the one and Only Megan Flanagan at Break the Mold Photography in Knoxville, TN! She is FABULOUS! #ShamelessPlug
