Barriers to the Breast

Abstract

Jessica is a 22-year-old African American woman and just had her third baby. She is not married and has two other children and very little help at home. She works as a nurse’s aide at a nursing home. No one in her family has breastfed, but she has heard it is a good thing for her baby. Jessica and the baby’s dad recently broke up, but he wants to help as much as he can; he is not sure if breastfeeding is a good idea or not. She had trouble coming for prenatal care because she takes the bus (she does not have a car), so taking the free breastfeeding and childbirth education classes was more or less out of the question. Those classes are mostly at night. She had five prenatal visits and took her prenatal vitamins faithfully. She delivers a full-term, healthy baby girl who weighs 6 pounds 14 ounces. She has received and read a handout about breastfeeding at one prenatal visit from the nurse, and her OB told her breastfeeding is good for her baby. Right after delivery, she is given her baby to breastfeed and it goes well. The baby latches on and nurses on both breasts for about 30 minutes. She is so happy that the baby is healthy and that this labor and delivery was easier than her past two deliveries.