An Easy Guide to Breastfeeding for African-American Women
Why Is Breastfeeding Important for African-American Women
Nursing mothers and most healthcare professionals agree that the benefits of breastfeeding are endless. Unfortunately, millions of African-American parents don't take advantage of this form of infant nutrition. The breastfeeding rates of African-American women are markedly lower than White and Hispanic women. In fact, only 19% of African-American women breastfeed by the time their babies are six months old. African-American teenagers are even less likely to breastfeed. A hundred years ago, African women in America practiced a tradition of breastfeeding. This tradition should not be forgotten
Why are breastfeeding rates in the African-American community so low Breastfeeding is not seen as "normal" in our community? What could be more normal and natural than breastfeeding? Breastfeeding is thought to be painful. If done properly, breastfeeding will not cause pain-it will cause joy.
The African-American community is based on kinship. Our decision to breastfeed is directly related to influence from our peers, which includes a partner, mother, grandmother, friend or other relative. It has been found that we are very likely to breastfeed if our spouse supports breastfeeding. If your spouse is against breastfeeding, you may be less likely to breastfeed. We don't have access to helpful breastfeeding information. We often go through an entire pregnancy without receiving any information on breastfeeding. Learning the benefits of breastfeeding should be a standard part of prenatal care. We are not given a choice about how we want to feed our babies. We are overloaded with coupons, samples and literature from infant formula companies. There are few brochures, posters and other literature that show pictures of us breastfeeding our babies.
There are, however, many brochures, posters, etc. that show pictures of White and Hispanic women in breastfeeding situations. This lack of culturally sensitive images has greatly influenced a belief that breastfeeding is no longer a part of our community. How to Plan a Vegetarian Diet for a Breast-Feeding Mom Everyone needs to eat more calories and a larger amount of nutrients when breast-feeding, regardless of the type of diet. A vegetarian can easily breast-feed and supply both herself and her baby with the nutrition they both need Make sure you're consuming adequate calories.
- The recommended caloric intake is 500 calories above your usual intake. Boost your calcium intake. Eat at least four servings of calcium-rich foods every day.
- Good choices are calcium-fortified tofu, bok choy, broccoli, dark green leafy vegetables, calcium-fortified soy milk and cereals.
- Take a sunbath. It's the easiest way to get vitamin D, essential for bone health. All you need is about 20 minutes of sun directly on your face and hands two or three times a week. Don't use sunblock, and go out when the sun is weakest.
- Eat vitamin D-fortified foods if you don't get enough sun. It's difficult to get enough in food, unless the product is fortified with it. Examples of fortified foods are cereals or, if you eat dairy products, milk.
- Check that you get enough vitamin B-12. You need more while breast-feeding than you did during pregnancy. It's not found in most plant-based foods. Eat B-12-fortified cereal or B-12-fortified soy milk
- Assess your iron intake. Your need for this mineral decreases after pregnancy and is lower during breast-feeding
- .Eat plenty of protein. Your need for protein increases to about 5g more than it was while you were pregnant. Protein is plentiful in plant-based foods, and soy products are particularly good sources
- Watch your zinc intake. You can get zinc from eating whole grains and legumes; if you were supplementing while pregnant, you may need to continue.
- Eat fresh whole foods. Avoid questionable additives.
- Everything you eat has the possibility of ending up in your breast milk.
- If you have a health care practitioner who is supportive of your vegetarian diet, talk to him or her about diet and see if any changes need to be made during breast-feeding. Some brands of nutritional yeast contain B-12. It's also found in all standard multivitamins.
- Your health care practitioner may want you to continue with your prenatal vitamins while breast-feeding
- Some myths abound. One is that you need to drink cow's milk in order to maintain an adequate milk supply. This is false.
