I wanted to share a really great experience I had yesterday. I allready mentioned it in a thread over in "life with a babe", but i wanted to share the full story here. First, you need to know that BF rates in Georgia are unbelievably low, particularly among young mothers, and more so among young black mothers. I feel like reaching out, but I'm always afraid that I will come across as a "nipple nazi". Instead, I make it a point to nurse everywhere I can. I nurse modestly but not particularly discreetly. Yesterday, I was at the hospital visiting my sister, and we stopped in the gift shop. On the way out, Avery was nursing/dozing in the sling, and I dropped some change. Two young, black nurses aids stopped and picked it up for me since it was hard to bend down with the baby. One said, "oh, look, she's breastfeeding." And they both started raving about my fat healthy baby. I told them he was only 3 months old, and they both did a double take and had to feel the sling to make sure he really was that big. When they walked away, I heard them telling each other, "they don't lie about that breastmilk." And, "I think I might BF when I have kids." That made me feel really good. Later, we went up to see my mom in the same hospital, and I got off the elevator and a young black nurse started raving about my beautiful baby boy (he smiled and she saw his dimples), and telling me how she wanted her baby to be nice and plump like mine (she was about 7 months pregnant, I realized it when she stood up.) I told her how old he was, and she called another nurse over to see him. She said, "what are you feeding him?" And I said, "brestmilk, of course."
I hope I don't sound racist. I would have felt good no matter what color these women were, but, knowing the statistics, I felt especially good knowing that 3 young black women walked away considering BFing their future babies. Does that make sense? I hope you ladies can understand. I am white, and the rates among white women are low, but not nearly as low. With all that was going on yesterday, I got a smile out of that. I hope I made a difference, or at least planted a seed. Even if these women decide not to BF, maybe they will support their sisters/cousins/aunts/friends who do. We all know support is everything.
