How to help Black women breastfeed? JCSU grant aims to start with lactation consultant diversity

Personal experience drew 34-year-old Afton Jones to the Lactation Consultant Training program at Johnson C. Smith University. She remembers struggling with breastfeeding her daughter until she realized it was OK to ask for help. Now she wants to be a resource for other mothers.

"I just really fell in love with breastfeeding and all the great things about it, all the benefits about breastfeeding. I became really passionate about it," Jones said.

Patrice Squirewell

Jones is a therapist who specializes in women’s care — she works with people who are pregnant and also helps navigate the postpartum period. JCSU’s lactation program meets once a week at night — ideal for a working professional like Jones.

Along with experiencing the benefits of breastfeeding firsthand, Jones says she wants mothers of color to see themselves in the lactation consultants at their bedsides.

"In the African American community, there's not a lot of women that breastfeed or that saw their moms or their grandmothers breastfeed," Jones said. "And there's still some work to be done around that. So one thing that's important to me is to just have a familiar face in the African American community that people can come to for support around breastfeeding."

The majority of lactation consultant professionals are female and white.

That lack of diversity was eye opening to TaHysha McClain when she started in the field. She’s the program director for the lactation training program at JCSU.

Courtesy of TaHysha McClain

"Coming into work for one of my first times and sitting around a table of other lactation consultants that were in the area and looking around the room," McClain recalls. "And all I saw were white women with blue eyes and blonde hair. I thought, 'Oh my goodness. This is something that has to be addressed.'"

JCSU is trying to bring more diversity not only to benefit the health of the mother but also the baby.

In Mecklenburg County in 2020, there were nearly 10 infant deaths per 1,000 live births among African Americans. That’s more than triple the deaths per 1,000 live births among white infants.

McClain says she’s seen firsthand the positive influence of diverse lactation consultants. She recalls working in the NICU and encountering a mother whose baby required donor breast milk, but the mother was refusing. The medical staff labeled her as difficult and controlling. But McClain said she knew if she could relate to this woman, she would be able to help.

"As a Black woman being able to relate to another Black woman, I knew that there was some misunderstanding there," she said. "So, you know, she felt comfortable to open up to me and allow me to ask her certain questions so that I can understand the root of the problem."

Eventually, McClain says, the mom let her baby receive donor milk.

A 2021 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that while almost 86% of new white mothers initiate breastfeeding, only 74% new Black mothers do — the lowest of any racial group in the U.S.

There’s also the issue of the complex and difficult history surrounding breastfeeding in the Black community. McClain says that makes it even more important for representation in the field.

"And that does go back to the history of slavery in our grandmothers and great-grandmothers being wet nurses. And then you seeing lactation consultants come in and, you know, a lot of white women had this savior complex where I'm going to go in and save you," McClain said. "And so now Black women are saying, I don't need to be saved. I just need some help, you know?"

Part of the county funding will be used to promote and advertise the university’s Birth Doula program. McClain expects the funds will be used to hire support staff, help offset the cost of student tuition, and help students prepare for the International Board Certificated Lactation Consultant exam. The exam alone is almost $700.

There are still barriers that stand between women of color and breastfeeding — barriers like cultural baggage, cost and a lack of diversity. McClain hopes that by empowering more people like her to get into the field, the lactation consultant program will help more new mothers overcome those obstacles.