Join Breastfeed Durham for a day of advocacy. Reach out to your favorite locally owned business or community organization and encourage them to apply to become a Breastfeeding Friendly Community Partner. Or reach out to your favorite bodega and/or the safe places for breastfeeding families. We intentionally ask those of you who are connected to faith-based organizations or community organizations to reach out. Breastfeed Durham looks forward to celebrating our growing list of breastfeeding friendly community partners.
- Applying for the Breastfeeding Welcome designation,
- Writing a breast/chestfeeding policy (Sample Worksite Lactation Policy),
- Posting signage welcoming families to feed babies including breastfeeding babies,
- Sharing the Business Case for Breastfeeding with families (See the NC Making It Work Tool Kit in English or in Spanish).
Deep Inequities
Many Black and Indigenous women who have the privilege and access to insurance and transportation choose to leave Durham County for care, but those without means simply do not receive adequate levels of care. This disparity is heightened based on the melatonin in your skin and one’s English language proficiency. Deep inequities exist for indigenous people living in Durham and originally from South and Central America, whose second language is Spanish, and have very little English proficiency. Because of Breastfeed Durham’s tireless work over the last four years, breastfeeding rates and maternal mortality rates in North Carolina are improving, but Black and Indigenous families of wealth are still leaving the Durham community for healthcare. The Durham health care system is full of good people with good intentions, but the system itself is broken. The 10 steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community is about implementing systems, policy and environmental change to address community-wide problems such as those that we have and Durham. Over the past four years, we have received tremendous support from parents and community advocates in our community.
Reproductive Justice Framework
Breastfeeding, chestfeeding, and human milk feeding are part of the birthing justice movement. Building upon the reproductive justice framework, we view birthing justice to include all birthing and lactating people, inclusive of all gender and sexual identities. Parents “have the right to breastfeed if you decide that this is best for you and your baby. If breastfeeding is not recommended, you have the right to have the risks and benefits of breastfeeding explained to you by your healthcare provider..” from the Birth Justice COVID 19 Bill of Rights | Derecho del Paciente en el Periodo Perinatal
The experience of middle and upper-income Black and Brown mothers in Durham is also challenging. Durham is home to two major universities and yet we find Black parents are returning to work as early as two weeks. Even with PhDs and other professional degrees, Black and Brown parents feel pressured to return to work quickly to hide our parenthood. Parents fear that if one were to disclose that we are parents that we would be fired before ones white colleagues.
Shamefully History
There is a shamefully long global and national history of aggressively advertising formulas to Black, poor, and other marginalized communities to the detriment of infant health. The lived experience of the Fultz sisters tells how formula companies used Black babies to sell their product. At Breastfeed Durham, we celebrate every family, regardless of how we feed a baby. There is a difference between using formulas and advertising formulas. Standing against unethical marketing of formula is a racial and food justice issue. Formula advertising is pervasive and persuasive, and there is a lot of evidence to support that it can undermine breastfeeding. The WHO and other institutions have tried to mitigate the effects of formula marketing (again, different from the necessary use of formula) by providing guidelines for organizations like ours and Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities that include asking businesses not to advertise formula (they may sell formula, just can’t advertise it). Read more…
Journey Together
Ultimately, Breastfeed Durham exists because no family in this country gets enough support. Though infant feeding is often framed as a “choice,” there is no real choice when there is no federal paid time off, no universal and affordable/free childcare, no living wage requirements, and inequitable lactation support. If you are a parent in Durham, we support you and we are walking this journey with you.
#BlackMamasMatter # BirthJustice #FirstFoodEquity