Fact:

African American infants are twice as likely to die before their

first birthdays than white infants, have the highest rate of asthma of any race,

and have a 35% higher chance of childhood obesity than white children.

These health crises can be remedied to some extent with breastfeeding, but African American women, with the lowest long-term breastfeeding rates in the country, are missing out on breastfeeding’s many health benefits.

The Black Woman’s Guide to Breastfeeding: The Definitive Guide to Nursing for Africa American Mothers (Pub Date: Dec. 2005; ISBN: 1402203454; $12.95 U.S. /$17.95 CAN; Parenting/African American.) by Katherine Barber is a timely, up-to-date guide that speaks to the importance of breastfeeding in the African-American community. It addresses unique economic and social issues of black women while showing them how and why to breastfeed their children.

This new guidebook provides insight into many topics; the truth about breastfeeding myths and common questions with solutions. Additionally, the book details important benefits of breastfeeding including: helping mom lose weight, spending more time with the newborn, keeping baby protected from many diseases and even a chapter on getting fathers involved.

The needs of African-American women have been excluded from most breastfeeding literature on the market, which fail to speak to the financial, educational and cultural realities of many African-American women.

Katherine Barber’s book is different. 

 

The Black Woman’s Guide to Breastfeeding is meant to empower, educate and supplement advice women receive from other lactation support experts. It fills the void in this important area of parenting literature.