This week is Black Breastfeeding Week (August 25th to 31st) and we are using it to highlight the importance of supporting black women to breastfeed.
Bernice Radcliffe, Infant Feeding Lead for Maternity at NCIC, said: “Black Breastfeeding Week is so important because it encourages breastfeeding among black families and also celebrates it!
“Research shows that black mothers are breastfeeding less than any other group and are nine times more likely to be offered formula in hospitals than white women.
“Black babies die at two times the rate of white babies mostly due to health conditions and it has been proven that by breastfeeding this rate could be halved.
“There are unique cultural barriers among black women which need to be acknowledged. There is a lack of mainstream role models and multi-generational support.
“There is also a lack of diversity in the lactation field or role models. This is something we are proactively trying to change within infant feeding at NCIC to improve representation.
“Within infant feeding at NCIC we include all groups in our imagery in our training package and also had minority groups take part in our service user videos that we shared for World and National Breastfeeding Week.
“By letting people know there is support in our area for all women and that breastfeeding has benefits for all mums and babies we hope to break down some of those barriers and encourage everyone to reach out if needed.”
Andrea Harriman, Infant Feeding Lead and Specialist Midwife at NCIC, said: “We are proud to support Black
Breastfeeding Week. Breastfeeding provides infants with all the nutrients they need but it also provides comfort, love and protection.
“Breastfeeding is the biological norm, provides the best start in life and has a positive impact on a baby’s development, from strengthening immunity and reducing the risk of infections to emotional bonding and building long term mental and physical resilience.”
Bernice added: “It also has a positive impact for mums and improves their health too by lowering the incidence of certain cancers, disease, depression and diabetes.”
Bernice has some advice for women struggling with breastfeeding: “Don’t give up on a bad day! Breastfeeding takes practice, you and your baby have to learn together and it takes time to learn this new skill. We’d encourage you to access some support to get to the bottom of the difficulty, sometimes a small tweak really can make a big difference…you can do this!”
Penny Hibonne explained the benefits of breastfeeding in a video we shared during World Breastfeeding Week earlier this year.
Black Breastfeeding Week was created in 2013 by three national breastfeeding advocates in response to 40+ years of a gaping racial disparity in breastfeeding rates.
Black Breastfeeding Week was brought over to the UK, to coincide with the US Black Breastfeeding Week by Doula and maternal health educator, Ruth Dennison in 2017.