Breastfeeding supporters, your voice matters…and here’s why

Though many of us may breastfeed (or may have) or personally know other women who do or have, we are kind of a growing minority. The latest Surgeon General’s report on breastfeeding reports that we start out great with 58% of non-Latina black women and 80% of Latina women breastfeeding. By the time the babies are 6 months though, only 27% and 46% are still going. Even stil, these numbers do not refer to exclusive breastfeeding where the baby consumes only mother’s milk.

One of the primary reasons why we began the Free to Breastfeed project was because we believe it’s deeply valuable to normalize breastfeeding, in private and public. In doing so, we open the door for the message about the incomparable benefits of breastfeeding. Even more importantly, we create the space for our families and society to consider how to better support mothers who breastfeed, whether or not they also work outside of the home. Remember, at present almost half of women who work outside of the home do not currently have the legal right to pump milk at work.

All of this is a major reason why we poked fun at some of the uninformed and insensitive comments we receive from family and strangers alike with this video:

Whether or not to feed a child breast milk is clearly every woman’s own choice. We’re just doing our part to create a world where women are empowered with correct information and support to make the choices they feel best. You can help by being kind and helpful to nursing mothers and supporting initiatives like this one to protect the right of all mothers to pump at work.