Pervasive disparities surrounding how Black mothers are treated by the medical industry compared to their peers have been making their way into the national dialogue. A new book by author Andrea Freeman, Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice now historically details the many ways the medical industry partnered with formula companies to sabotage Black women breast feeding.
Reports of Black expectant mothers' mortality rates being 300% higher than white mothers is a fact that Andrew Yang recently pulled out on the Democratic primary campaign trail. Further, other reports state that Black women face verbal abuse even in the delivery room. It’s a serious issue that even international superstars and world class athletes like Serena Williams can’t avoid.
One story recounts the heartbreaking tale of Annie Mae Fultz, a Black Cherokee woman who gave birth to the world’s first recorded identical quadruplets in 1946. The white doctor who delivered them, Dr. Fred Klenner, realized the potential celebrity status of such a rare delivery and went about exploiting the Fultz family who couldn't read.
First, he took it upon himself to name each girl without input from the family. He gave all four sisters the first name Mary; then middle names belonging to his wife, sister, aunt, and great-aunt. He also began testing controversial vitamin C injections starting from the first day the girls were born. Lastly, he negotiated a bidding war for the girls’ imagery to use on formula campaigns.
The winner, Pet Milk, devised a new strategy directed at Black women which garnered tremendous profits and also convinced many Black mothers that formula was healthier than breastfeeding.
Another anecdote recounts the ordeal of 19-year-old Tabitha Walrond, who was convicted of starving her baby in 1999 though she had been dutifully breastfeeding her newborn son. Tabitha’s doctors overlooked that her milk supply would be affected due to her difficult delivery and a previous surgery. They wrongfully assured her that breastfeeding would be more than enough to sustain her child. Her prior medical history and pregnancy complication was likely not taken seriously as the medical industry often does not individualize Black patients when it comes to pain assessment. Her young newborn died from malnutrition eight weeks later.
Freeman ties these historical injustices to contemporary laws and programs that enable the problem.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the single largest purchaser of formula in the United States. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), in turn, gives free formula to women in its program, increasing the probability that these women will forgo breastfeeding. Black women are overwhelming participants in the government assistance programs, including WIC, that distribute free formula.
While there are laws that are designed to protect breastfeeding mothers at work, those don’t apply to part-time work or the small businesses that employ many Black women. Further, due to welfare-to-work reform, new mother’s who receive welfare must return to work before their infants are even ready to stop nursing.
The many benefits of breastfeeding include: helping to fight viruses and bacteria, lowering the risk of asthma and allergies, and minimizing the severity of ear infections and diarrhea.
Black women being historically and systematically misled to discount breastfeeding counts as yet another form of maternal discrimination.
