Getting breastfeeding information to black women

Transcription:

Breastfeeding rates in the African American community are low for a myriad of reasons. Historically, it was intimated to us that to breastfeed your child meant that you were poor and that having the money to buy formula made you feel more important, like you could raise your child in a different kind of status. It happens more often today because there are not the resources out there that we need to learn how to do it properly, to learn the benefits and the effectiveness of it, to learn that it´s cheaper than having to go out and buy formula. And so, a big part of the reason why we do not give that information is because again we are constantly ignored when it comes to the parenting books, the parenting magazines, the parenting websites that do not speak specifically to our situations as African American mothers in America. So, I think the way that that changes is that we understand the unique challenges of breastfeeding when it comes to black moms and taking each one of those and tackling them in a way that makes sense and that actually reaches African American mothers because you can talk all you want to. But if you do not have the ear of that mother the moment that someone puts the baby into her arms and you let her know this is how it is done and here are the benefits, then you are not going to get them to breastfeed at the rates that we would want them to.

Video Categories: ALL PARENTS, Family Life, Racial and Cultural Differences, BABY, Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding Challenges, TODDLER, Feeding and Nutrition, Extended Breastfeeding

Denene Millner, Bestselling Author & Founder of MyBrownBaby, explains how African American women have low breastfeeding rates and shares advice to help them

Transcript

Expert Bio

Denene Millner

Author & Founder of MyBrownBaby.com

New York Times best-selling author Denene Millner is a hotly sought after award-winning journalist whose insightful and captivating pieces have secured her foothold in the entertainment, parenting and book publishing industries. Millner spent the last decade working as a columnist, contributing editor and blogger for Parenting, a national magazine for which she provided witty, engaging, mom-to-mom advice on ethics and etiquette in everything from childrearing and marriage to work and friendship. Currently, she also is the founder and editor of MyBrownBaby.com, a critically acclaimed, award-winning blog that examines parenting and motherhood through the multi-cultural experience. Millner frequently contributes as an entertainment writer for Essence, the most well-read and respected magazine for African American women, and has written for a plethora of national publications and prestigious websites, including Parenting, Health, Ebony, Jet, Heart & Soul, Real Health, Money, iVillage, Parenting.com, TodayMoms, and The Root, among others. Her extensive television experience includes regular appearances on the The Today Show, CBS Early Show, The Nate Berkus Show, HLN, CNN, MSNBC, VH1, and the Rachel Ray show. Millner also is the author of 21 books. The former political reporter and entertainment journalist lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and their two daughters.