BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — First-time mothers in central Brooklyn face a lack of support and obstacles in hospitals and their workplace when it comes to breastfeeding, according to a recent study.
The city’s Health Department released a new report this month detailing challenges to breastfeeding based on the experience of 19 women in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville.
“Many mothers, especially black and Latina mothers, face barriers to breastfeeding,” Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a statement.
“This research reinforces why it’s so important for families, hospitals and policymakers to create environments that support all mothers who want to breastfeed.”
Just 3 percent of low-income women in Bed-Stuy who were enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) breastfed for the recommended six months.
In Brownsville, the number of women came in at 1 percent, according to the report.
The study found that most first-time pregnant women in the neighborhoods want to breastfeed and believe it’s the healthiest choice for their babies.
Still, many participants shared that they had been formula-fed as babies and the practice is common in their communities.
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Women in the Brooklyn neighborhoods encounter obstacles that cause them to change their breastfeeding plans, according to the report.
Many participants said they faced unexpected medical challenges such as premature births, C-sections and other issues leading them to be unable to breastfeed.
Others stopped breastfeeding altogether, and few had practical support or an understanding of how the process works, or didn’t have access to a pump.
The study also found that women planned to stop breastfeeding before returning to work because of the lack of accommodations in their workplaces.
Those interviewed stated that they knew of the law allowing women to breastfeed in public, but didn’t usually see other women breastfeeding in their neighborhoods and “perceived their communities as being unsympathetic toward women who breastfeed in public,” according to the report.
“We need to shift the burden and blame off mothers in reaching their breastfeeding goals and instead address the racial and ethnic, cultural and systemic barriers that do not make breastfeeding possible,” said Dr. Torian Easterling, assistant commissioner for the Brooklyn Neighborhood Health Action Centers.
Recommendations from experts to make Bed-Stuy and Brownsville breastfeeding-friendly neighborhoods included engaging locals, policymakers and health advocates to support breastfeeding in their communities, and supporting initiatives that educate fathers about their important role in the process.
