I had no idea that this was a true statistic until I read recently that black women are statistically much less likely to breast feed than other nationalities of women. I really didn’t know why this would be, so I dug a little further and read more and found that the theories are a bit obtuse on why, but they may be the only available theory now to stick to.
Some think that it may be due to lack of education and resources to make it easier for a black woman vs. other racial profiles to breast feed, so there is a push to change that and give black women all the resources and knowledge to make it easier on them. As all women know who have ever breast fed, it really can be challenging, and even downright disheartening sometimes due to common complications that can occur.
There is a theory that the lack of breastfeeding in black women also may be due to a sort of ingrained cultural distaste for it since during the days of slavery, black women were often forced to breast feed the children of their keepers and also had to come home from a long day of sweltering in the sun and other environmentally tough conditions and feed their own babies by breast.
There are a lot of programs out there now that help any woman who wants to breast feed because she believes it is better for her child. It helps when you have someone who can help you through the trials and tribulations of this task since babies can get finicky and not feed right away, or because it is such a huge hassle to try to pump your breasts all the time and store the milk.
When you are lactating, you produce breast milk every few hours, and if it is not pumped out it can be very painful. That alone can be disheartening for a woman to go through, so having support and compassion and education through that in how to make things easier is important if a woman is to continue breast feeding through the all important ages where it is the best for the child’s development and growth.
