“At a time when there are many reasons to be sad, we are still joyful,” says Kiddada Green, executive founding director of the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association in Detroit and a co-founder of BBW. “The satisfaction of giving your baby the healthiest start at life with the preventative health benefits of breastmilk is one way to feel joy. Fathers, family members and communities experience this joy too when they support mothers to successfully breastfeed,” Green says.
Breastfeeding may not always feel joyful when you consider the many structural and cultural barriers such as the lack of a federal paid maternity leave policy to give mothers ample time to establish their breastfeeding routine before returning to work or the “shaming” of mothers who nurse in public in a society that uses breasts to sell chicken wings and beer yet makes women uncomfortable for using their breasts for their natural purpose. But, the co-founders of Black Breastfeeding Week note, those barriers are exactly why breastfeeding successfully for whatever personal goal women set, is such a joy.