Keep an eye out for this upcoming book by Katherine Barber

African American Breastfeeding Alliance - a wonderful resource dedicated to providing information, education and support for breast feeding within the African American community.

Breast Feeding Telephone Support from AABA 

 Mon- Fri 9-5pm est. Call toll-free at (877) 532-8535.

What an amazing concept! The perfect food, custom made for your baby, always balanced nutritionally, sterile, correct temperature and readily accessible - breast feeding is certainly best feeding! The only problem is that despite endless benefits for both mom and baby, African American women do not breastfeed their babies as often or for as long as their white counterparts. I often tell my patients that although they do their very best to take care of their baby during their pregnancy, the most important part once the baby is born, is to continue the same level of nutrition that the placenta was providing. There is no such thing at the store as "Formula for Jennie's Baby" - it's called by it's brand name and is absolutely the same every time. Change only comes when the newest version of "closest to breast milk" comes out. We allow ourselves to accept something that is not yet advertised as "the same as breast milk", knowing that it will probably never be able to be the same, but we buy into the supposed convenience, modesty and, sadly, tradition that says it is ok to feed our children this way. Consider that breast milk is designed for each individual fetus and like our blood types "matches" the baby better than any other form of nutrition that could be provided. If your baby needed a blood transfusion and matched your blood type, would you ask the doctor to check with the blood bank first, or would you be donating your blood?