Program seeks to increase breast-feeding among black women in District - The Washington Post: ...According to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black mothers nationwide lag behind other racial and ethnic groups when it comes to breast-feeding. In a recent study, 54 percent of black mothers breast-fed their infants from birth, compared with 74 percent of white mothers and 80 percent of Hispanic mothers. Breast-feeding rates for all groups, including Asian and Native American mothers, drop after six months. But just 27 percent of African American mothers continued to breast-feed, compared with 43 percent of white mothers and 45 percent of Hispanic mothers.
Center director Sahira Long, a certified lactation consultant who is also president of the D.C. Breastfeeding Coalition, said the barriers that any mother would face in breast-feeding, such as lack of knowledge, are magnified among blacks in the high-poverty neighborhoods.
“There are myths that are passed on — that it is painful, or that it will be difficult to get the baby to go to anyone else than the mother,” Long said. “If that mother is the first to breast-feed in their family, then they won’t get the family or community support.”
