by ELIZABETH HINES
Elizabeth Hines with her daughter.
Let’s start by putting the pertinent details right out there on the table: I’m Black. I’m the mother of a nearly 2-year old daughter. And yes, we are still breastfeeding.
To me, there’s nothing particularly radical about what I’ve just told you about myself. Motherhood and nursing are mine by choice; my skin color and curly hair are factors over which I had no more control than any other person born into this world. But sadly enough, the convergence of these three aspects of my identity – my blackness, my role as a mother, and my decision to nurse, especially into the toddler years – makes me a rather unconventional bird, indeed.
If you’ve paid any attention to the data on rates of breastfeeding among Black women, you’ll understand what I mean. While women overall are now initiating breastfeeding at a rate of 75 percent, Black women trail the pack, initiating breastfeeding in just 54 percent of births. Look beyond the initiation phase (i.e. those first hours and days after birth when most of us would try anything), and the news gets even worse for Black babies. Though the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends “exclusive breastfeeding to age 6 months and continued breastfeeding for at least the first year of life,” by the time our children reach 12 months of age, only 11.7 percent of them are still being breastfed, as compared to 24 percent of Hispanic babies and 21 percent of white babies.
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