Happy #BlackBreastfeedingWeek!!!

Up until recently, I didn’t realize the impact of being a black mother who breastfeeds. It seems as though my community isn’t as well-educated as we could be as it pertains to breastfeeding. It’s extremely important to reach black moms during this time because statistically speaking, our babies are in need of the boobies–the CDC reports that a whopping 75% of our white sisters breastfeed as opposed to the 58.9% of black mothers. But black infant mortality rates are triple that to those rates of the white babies due to various reasons, however, the CDC also reports that these rates would drop if more black babies were breastfed. So moms, please don’t be bashful, whip your boobies out and feed the babies.

Before I had my mini, I didn’t really know much about breastfeeding nor did I think about its impact on the mother or child. In my head, I was just thinking that as long as the babies get fed, that’s all that mattered right? Yes and no. Naturally it’s important for the babies to be fed and get the nutrition they need but what is best for them is the milk that our bodies produce. Why, right? In addition to vitamins and the tailor-made nutrition that the breast milk provides, there are also immune building anti-bodies that our babies need. Outside of nutrition, breast-feeding creates an unbreakable and unmatched bond between mother and child.

This week at The Crunchy Mommy, I’ll be sharing some of the real-life lessons that I’ve learned so far as I prepare to conclude (hopefully) my breast-feeding relationship with abc. I’m not bashful so if you ever have any questions, please feel free to submit them here, hit me up on twitter, leave a question on my Facebook page or wherever it is you feel comfortable asking.

To kick things off, here is a Periscope I did on the reasons why I chose to breastfeed: