It takes a village
A 2017 Cochrane review reinforces the value of providing women with predictable, tailored, and multifaceted breastfeeding support offered by professional or lay/peer people or a combination of both.
This model is embodied in ROSE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating breastfeeding disparities and barriers experienced by mothers of color, including inadequate medical or family support, lack of shared decision-making, recognition of financial or psychological challenges, and historical antecedents. Many of these women’s ancestors were forced to wet-nurse slave masters’ children instead of breastfeeding their own children.
One of several national organizations solely dedicated to this issue, ROSE offers a variety of services and resources ranging from lactation counseling and peer support training programs to training for health professionals (for example, pediatricians, nurses) that serve communities of color. A companion arm (ROBE, Reaching Our Brothers Everywhere) aims to bring men into the fold through breastfeeding education and peer-to-peer connection. All of these services are provided in a judgment-free, culturally sensitive environment.
“We need to look not only into maternal health issues ... but also offer support to people who are working in the birthing community,” cofounder Mary N. Jackson, a CLC, WIC lactation consultant, and former president of the Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition said in an interview.
Mary Davis
“We have Morehouse pediatricians coming to us just to talk to moms on how they can support them in the community. We have training – Community Transformers – where we talk to moms regardless of their social backgrounds; they’re working in the community helping other moms with breastfeeding, or moms will call them (with) their questions,” Ms. Jackson explained. Ms. Davis is now one of these women.
“Having the women of ROSE support me ... was such a game-changer,” she said. “Sometimes that support that you need, that is helpful, is peer-to-peer,” she noted, adding that ROSE does a lot more than fill in the gaps medically, but also psychologically.”
More pillars, less judgment
TaNeeka Davis pointed out that removing a pillar in the community like ROSE and other grassroots support outside of traditional models will likely have the opposite effect that lawmakers and the lobbyists fighting for certification and licensing aim to achieve, especially if other states adopt the same approach.
“The disparities are going to get even greater, you are going to see bigger gaps, less women even initiating breastfeeding. Why start something that you can’t finish? You can’t tell me that making laws that limit the amount of help we are able to get when it comes to breastfeeding will not have a detrimental effect – health effects – later in life,” she said.
Neither Ms. Jackson nor Ms. Davis believe that medical professionals should be replaced but rather that adjunctive, community-based help is integral for bridging the breastfeeding divide.
As clinicians, “we have to go beyond not judging to trying to figure out where people are, to meet your patients where they are,” said Dr. Furman. “It’s like the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility, which is more of an ongoing process.
Dr. Furman and Ms. Davis report no relevant financial relationships. Ms. Cavanaugh is the coattorney on the lawsuit. Ms. Jackson is employed by ROSE.
*This story was updated on Feb. 11, 2022.