August is World Breastfeeding Awareness Month, a time dedicated to teaching and supporting girls, women and society about breastfeeding. It was launched in 1992 by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action and has aligned itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To properly commemorate Breastfeeding Awareness Month 2024, here’s everything you need to know.
Breastfeeding Awareness Month 2024: Different Themes
Each week of the Breastfeeding Awareness Month 2024 has different themes.
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- August 1 to 7: This period is World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), and this year’s theme is Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All.
- August 8 to 14: Indigenous Milk Medicine Week
- August 15 to 21: Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Breastfeeding Week
- August 24 to 31: Black Breastfeeding Week
- September 1 to 7: Workplace Lactation Week
- September 3 to 9: Semana de La Lactancia Latina
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Breastfeeding Facts
The World Health Organization (WHO) shows that only 40% of infants globally are exclusively breastfed, despite it being the healthiest source of nutrition for a child. In light of this, one of the World Health Assembly resolutions is to raise that data to 50% by 2025.
Prevents Diseases
The colostrum, the first milk produced by a lactating mother, contains antibodies that protect a baby from diseases. This prevents conditions like diarrhoea, pneumonia and ear infections. Additionally, the antibodies a mother forms in her body also help infants combat illnesses.
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Breastfeeding Is Healthy for Mothers
Breastfeeding helps mothers avoid ovarian and breast cancers. Although it is not clear how this happens, it is believed that the slowing down of egg production and the changes in the breast cells which create resistance facilitate this. For instance, in 2022 alone, the WHO recorded over 600,000 deaths, meaning that many women’s lives were saved by breastfeeding.
Skin-To-Skin Contact
Infants need skin-to-skin contact to bond with their mothers. Additionally, babies develop their immune systems and enable the mother to express milk. In turn, a mother’s milk supply is boosted.
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Why We Need Black Breastfeeding Week
Black Breastfeeding Week is important because black mothers in the United States don’t receive as much support as other racial categories. Generally, maternal health disproportionately affects black families who experience a high mortality rate. As such, black breastfeeding week aims to tackle these issues and reduce the gap among women of color. The areas of concern include:
- Reduction of mortality rate among black infants who often die because of sickness, premature births or are too small.
- Reduction of diet-related issues from obesity, respiratory infections and Type II diabetes.
- Increase diversity in the lactation field. Many practitioners don’t relate to the experiences of black mothers, leading to poor care or methods that are ineffective among the black community.
- Create structures that facilitate breastfeeding among black mothers. Also, have a community that helps them during this process. Too often, black mothers lack the social support to care for their infants and hence have to return to work earlier, cutting off breastfeeding.
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Data Around Black Breastfeeding
- 74.1%: Black mothers are less likely to initiate breastfeeding, less likely to continue breastfeeding after six months at 44% and at 12 months at 24.1%.
- They are 2.5 times less likely to breastfeed compared to white women.
- Black mothers are more likely to be given formula in hospitals than white mothers.
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Communities That Support Black Women Breastfeeding
Knowing the communities to go to helps black mothers find supportive communities. These are some of the groups you can join.
- Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) based in Detroit aims to reduce the racial disparity in breastfeeding by creating support networks and systems to help black families.
- Kindred Space LA was founded by Kimberly and Allegra after they met in Los Angeles. The two have helped one another in their births and now support black women in the most important moment of their lives.
- La Leche League International was started in 1956 by seven women to help other women learn how to breastfeed. At the time, nursing your baby wasn’t encouraged and thus many mothers lacked the knowledge of how to do it, so they created this organization.
Breastfeeding Awareness Month 2024 is an important event not only for mothers but for the entire community. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child and for a newborn child to survive, they and the mother need support to ensure they remain healthy.
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