SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — A Georgia Southern University public health professor has published a special photo book that highlights the various existing barriers that discourage breastfeeding among local Black mothers.

Dr. Nandi A. Marshall, an associate professor and interim associate dean of academic affairs in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, recently released the “Savannah H.O.P.E. Photovoice Project.”

The book’s goal is to document and amplify the personal breastfeeding experiences of Black moms in Chatham County.

Through a combination of photography and storytelling, it offers an outlet for the women to share their stories.

“The Photovoice Project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through their Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health grant, which is also known as REACH,” explained Marshall, who says she breastfed her own two children. 

The Photovoice Project’s book cover features an artwork of Marshall nursing her daughter, Kailee. 

“When we were putting the grant together, we were trying to think about ways that we can get input from moms who are experiencing barriers to breastfeeding,” Marshall told WSAV NOW.

Those barriers include the social, cultural and physical types.

“I suggested Photovoice because I’ve used this method before, and it’s a great way to hear and see people’s perspectives,” Marshall said, adding that as a mom, she’s experienced some of these barriers herself. 

She says the fact that these barriers exist is no secret. However, she and other community partners hoped to identify through local mothers’ stories what the issues are in Chatham County, and also hear the mothers’ ideas for solutions.

“[We’re hearing] what it’s like in the social atmosphere, so still getting those looks like, ‘why are you breastfeeding in public? Go to the bathroom,’ or not being able to find a place that feels welcoming to breastfeeding moms or really a place anywhere that you can go quietly,” Marshall said.

“While, of course, moms are encouraged to nurse where they are, hopefully, they’ll feel safe enough to do so,” she said.

Studies have shown that Black mothers tend to breastfeed their children at a lower rate than their white counterparts. 

A 2019 report from the CDC that examined births in 2015 showed that among all infants, Black babies had a significantly lower rate of breastfeeding at three months old (58%) than did white babies (72.7%).

At 6 months old, the rates were 44.7% among Black infants and 62% among white infants.

Marshall recalls one of the Black mothers featured in the Photovoice Project sharing that she does not often see signs or mainstream breastfeeding materials that reflect herself. 

“It kind of adds to the notion that Black women aren’t breastfeeding,” Marshall said. 

“It’s really about having that representation,” she said, adding, “We know how important representation is, and that isn’t any different in the breastfeeding arena.”

Marshall says while the rates of Black women who breastfeed are lower, Black breastfeeding mothers are out there.

“Rates have gotten a little better; however, the disparity still exists, so we still have work to do,” Marshall said.

“In the last two years, there has been a lot more discussion around breastfeeding, a lot of people seem to be supporting the effort and really trying to do their part in communities,” she said.

At the federal and state levels, Marshall notes there’s been an increase of policies that help support increasing breastfeeding at initiation and duration. 

She also says efforts toward breaking barriers to breastfeeding are taking place locally.

“We are calling on organizations and institutions in Chatham County and Savannah to make sure they have a breastfeeding support policy for their parents that are coming back to work to breastfeed and chestfeed,” Marshall said, adding that any organization without a policy in place is welcome to contact her directly.

“My team and I have created a policy toolkit that includes a template that’s pulled from the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website that can help walk you through, step by step, how to create a policy, how to make sure it’s a breastfeeding-friendly policy, and how it supports the parent in the best way possible — breaks, lactation spaces in the office, those sorts of things,” she said.

She says her team also can provide breastfeeding-friendly decals from the Department of Public Health that can be placed in windows or elsewhere to let mothers know they have a place to feed their baby.

“We’re also working to identify some of those lactation spaces that the moms [in the book] talked about that don’t exist,” Marshall said.

One of the interviewed mothers highlights Oglethorpe Mall as making a step in the right direction. 

“They have a lactation room, and the mom mentioned it and said how awesome it is to know that when she’s in that area, she can go to the mall when she needs a quiet place,” Marshall shared.

The Photovoice Project book is available for viewing at the Healthy Savannah office on Drayton Street, the YMCA of Coastal Georgia and on the Armstrong Campus at Georgia Southern University. 

To view the Photovoice Project book digitally, visit this link.

The Savannah H.O.P.E. Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding Policy Toolkit is also available to view by clicking here.

To contact Dr. Nandi A. Marshall for more information on the project and breastfeeding in Chatham County, email her at nmarshall@georgiasouthern.edu or call her at (912) 344-3307.