The mission of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities has always been to create an environment that supports lactating families in a way that respects their unique needs and cultural contexts. While most lactation programs tend to focus on the United States, this organization’s Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community were designed with the vision of becoming a global initiative, they recognize the importance of understanding culture and its possible influences on breast/ chest feeding.
This is why Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities is excited to share an upcoming student-led research study from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. Elizabeth F. Acquah, is a graduate student in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department at the university, together with her interdisciplinary team of co-investigators she will investigate existing cultural postpartum practices in Ghanaian communities and identify how they influence lactation.
According to Ms. Acquah, recognizing the significant role culture plays in individual postpartum experience is key to successful breastfeeding. In her research, Ms. Acquah and her team will explore dietary practices and restrictions as well as traditional postpartum recovery practices that are observed across the various ethnic groups in Kumasi, Ghana. The team will go on to assess how these practices influence lactation and maternal and infant health and nutritional outcomes.
Knowing that many of the families we serve in the United States come from diverse cultural backgrounds, these findings will be indispensable as we strive to make our Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community culturally relevant for the people we serve. This study will address questions such as: How can we tailor our Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family and Friendly Community to reflect the diverse cultural backgrounds of the families we serve? In what ways can lactation support be adapted to honor and incorporate cultural dietary customs? How do traditional postpartum recovery practices influence the health and well-being of both the nursing parent and infant?
Acquah’s study offers practical lessons that can be applied to our current activities and as we prepare to take the Ten Steps to Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community global in ways such as:
- Culturally Tailored Lactation Support: By learning about the role of traditional herbs, foods, and postpartum practices, we can adapt our lactation support materials to better serve diverse communities. This may involve offering guidance that respects cultural dietary restrictions while promoting breast/ chest feeding-friendly practices.
- Supporting Maternal Nutrition: Recognizing that many cultural postpartum traditions include specific foods for postpartum we can collaborate with local cultural organizations to provide workshops that will incorporate these practices into our nutrition education programs for nursing families.
- Global Outreach: As we prepare to expand the Ten Steps of Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community worldwide. Studies like this will help lay the groundwork for respectful, culturally informed outreach that meets families where they are.
At Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities, we have always envisioned the Ten Steps to a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community as a worldwide initiative, with the hope of expanding globally, Acquah’s research marks an important step forward, offering valuable insights into how we can effectively support breastfeeding through culturally diverse approaches.
Together, we can continue to build Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities that honor and support every family’s unique postpartum journey.