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An Introduction to

Breastfeed Durham

Love Anderson and Bernadette Greene

February 8, 2023

Bringing together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, organizations, agencies, and institutions to support a more family friendly community.

https://breastfeeddurham.org

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Agenda

Intro to Breastfeed Durham
Patient Stories
First Food Equity
Understanding the social context for our most vulnerable families.

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Welcome

Grab you tea and coffee

Please sign in:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtLpd7VBnwvxs1mz2mGvyXznpCcHgstCN6f3tWCqop0rU8bw/viewform

Or write in the chat

Your Name
Email Address
Role in Your Community
Primary Area of Concern

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The Breastfeed Durham is a community-wide program to impact Health Equity, as supported by the World Health Organization guidelines to work with communities to improve chest/breastfeeding support services.

The Breastfeeding family Friendly Communities initiative began as a pilot project in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, North Carolina, in 2014, with a vision to improve lactation duration by developing a set of measures to guide communities to welcome lactating families in all the spaces and places in which families live and work and shop and play. The measures, fondly called the Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community, foster continuity of care from pregnancy to birth to the family’s intended time to wean by building awareness of the community’s role in supporting families and providing measures and approaches to build a welcoming environment.

Development of the Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities initiative was led by Dr. Miriam Labbok, then director of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI), who desired to see healthier, more welcoming communities for young lactating families of all races and ethnicities. Unfortunately, Dr. Labbok passed away before realizing this vision. After Dr. Labbok’s passing, members of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro implementation team received the support of CGBI to continue the work locally and to expand nationally and globally. In 2018, Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities of Durham, now Breastfeed Durham, became the second community to begin the Ten Steps journey, and in 2020, with the enthusiasm and vision of new partners, the initiative in Chapel Hill and Carrboro grew to include communities in the entire county. To further support the initiative, Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities incorporated in May, 2020, and was awarded 501c3 status in October, 2020. Currently, Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities provides ongoing technical assistance and support to active communities in four states and 10 communities and has provided preliminary support to additional communities to explore the Ten Steps.

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Support and safeguard the nursing family.

An ecological model shows the ever expanding environment for protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding, chestfeeding, and human milk feeding.

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A system to promote Policy, System, and Environmental changes that reach those who have been historically marginalized.

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Why have TEN Steps for a Community?

Families need breastfeeding, chestfeeding, and human milk feeding support beyond the hospital…

Families need a supportive community.

Communities need to collaborate to support families.

Government, Healthcare, Community Support Providers,

Local Businesses, Nonprofits, Local Faith Communities,

Childcare Providers, Local Schools, and more...

We need to Engage the Whole Community!

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Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community

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Ten S teps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community

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Introductions

Age ~ Appearance
Race ~ Ethnicity
Socioeconomic status ~ Life experiences
Sexual orientation ~ Gender identity
Religion
Language ~ Location ~ National origin
Social groups
Professional Status
Physical Accessibility
Neurodiversity
Education
Familial status ~ Relationship status
Worldview

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Passionate parent
Data nerd
Children with special needs
Volunteer and breastfeeding advocate

La Leche League Leader
Parent Group Liaison for NC Breastfeeding Coalition
Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities

Volunteering is inherently inequitable
Community Health Worker at Breastfeed Durham working with Durham County Department of Public Health

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Bernadette Greene

Advertising for different types of families in the breastfeeding friendly community and attending community events.
Working in the community sharing information on breastfeeding, as well as other relevant info
Partnering with fatherhood group to help get info to dads
Community Health Worker with Breastfeed Durham

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What cultural barriers exist between the provider and family?

Put your thought in the chat

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First Food Equity

A Shared Responsibility

Ultimately, Breastfeed Durham exists because families are not getting enough support.

Though infant feeding is often framed as a “choice,” there is no real choice when there is no federal paid time off, no universal and affordable/free childcare, no living wage requirements, and inequitable lactation support. If you are a parent, we support you and we are walking this journey with you.

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What do you do to help?

Commitments from healthcare providers

Parents will receive education/support from the healthcare.
When supplementation is medically-indicated, will make every effort to provide expressed milk from parent or donor human milk before infant formula.
Healthcare will NOT promote commercial infant formula.

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First Food Equity

A Shared Responsibility

We also celebrate every family, regardless of how they feed their babies and invite ongoing conversation. However, there is a difference between using formula and advertising formula.

Bring together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, organizations, agencies, and institutions.

We want to Build Health Equity into the Foundation.

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First Food Equity

A Shared Responsibility

Does your organization have a breast/chestfeeding policy? Sample Worksite Lactation Policy

Has your organization applied for the Breastfeeding Welcome Here designation? Apply

Do you have signage welcoming families to feed their babies including breastfeeding their babies?

Is the business case for Breastfeeding shared with your families? See the NC Making It Work Tool Kit in Spanish

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First Food Equity

A Shared Responsibility

Even though it’s legal to breastfeed in public in all 50 states, there are countless instances of people being asked to leave or cover up – or even having the police called – while nursing. Many of those impacted are families of color – specifically, undocumented families, immigrant families, and families who have been racialized and criminalized and have every reason to avoid police contact.

Communicate with the first responders in your community about how they can better support families.

Parents feeding their infant with a bottle are never asked to leave a public space. We strongly believe that chest/breastfeeding families should be treated the same in public spaces.

Even though it’s legal to breastfeed in public in all 50 states, there are countless instances of people being asked to leave or cover up – or even having the police called – while nursing. Many of the impacted families are families of color – specifically, undocumented families, immigrant families, and families who have been racialized and criminalized and have every reason to avoid police contact. We are in communication with all the first responders in Durham about how they can better support families in Durham, but the threat of police interaction for breastfeeding in public is real. We would highlight that a parent feeding their infant with a bottle is never asked to leave a public space. We strongly believe that both families are providing life-sustaining food to their infants and should be treated the same in public spaces.

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Envisioning a world in which parents, families, and babies leverage their expertise to transform systems to live full and healthy lives.

Unapologetically committed to racial and gender equity – which includes Indigenous, Black, Brown, Latinex, Middle Eastern, and Asian/Pacific Islander parents, babies, and families including nonbinary parents, both transgender and cisgender. Remember that chest/breastfeeding is not just for white women.

Increasing connectivity between existing parts of the community and elevating the work of historically marginalized community members with the voices of Black and Brown lactating parents at the center.

Acting on health equity outcomes at all ages and stages of life, breast/chestfeeding is essential for family, perinatal, maternal, and child health.

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Questions?

In time, every family that wants to chest/breastfeed will receive education and support that enables the family to continue for as long as that family chooses.

Love@breastfeedingcommunities.org

Bernadette@breastfeedingcommunties.org

(919) 622-8787

BFFC Global

durham@breastfeedingcommunities.org

https://breastfeedDurham.org