Community Interventions to Improve Breastfeeding

The percentage of women breastfeeding their newborn babies is very low among minority populations such as African American women in Mississippi. There are good results with initiatives supporting the initiation of breastfeeding after delivery. However, the percentages of continuation of breastfeeding up to 3, 6 or 12 months are still very low in Mississippi. Therefore, this project is proposing to focus on community interventions including social and cultural components to promote and support continuation of breastfeeding. * The social component will include interventions to promote supportive environments in the workplace for lactating mothers, as well as promoting the use of mother\'s milk to feed infants in daycare centers. * The cultural component will focus on educating and raising awareness of the benefit of BF to prevent absenteeism at work, to reduce child illnesses, and to promote healthy child development. The cultural component will target the mother with her family and spouse/partner, employers, and daycare managers.