August 28, 2024
Making breastfeeding work: A second-time mom’s journey
Support from a dedicated care team helps Tiffany Anonye breastfeed her premature baby — despite challenges along the way.
Tiffany Anonye holds her newborn, Alex, at her teenage son’s middle school graduation.
Tiffany Anonye had always planned to breastfeed her first baby. But as a single, working mom, she struggled to make it work.
“My insurance didn’t offer much in the way of education and support,” she said. “And I couldn’t afford an electric breast pump, so all I had was the manual pump they gave me at the hospital. It took so long to fill a bottle that my hand would cramp.”
Seeing the challenges she faced, her family encouraged her to move on.
“The feeling was, ‘You don’t have time for this — you need to get back to work,’” Anonye recalls.
Eventually, she made the switch to baby formula.
“I felt alone on the journey,” she said.
Helping babies and parents succeed at breastfeeding
Like Anonye, many parents hope to breastfeed or chestfeed their infants. Breast milk is easy to digest, prevents illness, and reduces the baby’s risk of conditions such as asthma and obesity.
But breastfeeding doesn’t always come easily. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 in 10 parents stop breastfeeding earlier than planned. That’s especially true of Black parents, who are 8% to 17% less likely to breastfeed than Hispanic, white, or Asian parents.
“One of the biggest challenges parents face is navigating breastfeeding and work,” said Carla Wicks, MD, an ob-gyn who is medical director of Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. “To make breastfeeding work, you need time and space to pump your milk while you’re at work. And many parents don’t have that, especially lower income parents.”
Access to culturally responsive care is also important.
“The Black community has a long and complicated history with breastfeeding,” said Dr. Wicks. “During slavery, Black women were often forced to breastfeed the white children of the families they were enslaved to. As clinicians, we must acknowledge that painful past and recognize the stigma that still surrounds breastfeeding for some women.”
Dr. Wicks begins conversations with her patients by asking questions:
- Were you breastfed?
- Did your mother, sister, or friends breastfeed?
- What are your feelings about breastfeeding?
“We need to have those conversations early on and throughout the pregnancy. And we need to listen to our patients’ responses with sensitivity, openness, and understanding,” she said.
Coordinated care helps a preemie thrive
Fourteen years after her first child was born, Anonye became pregnant again.
“It was like night and day compared to my first experience,” she said. “I felt like a new mother all over again.”
At prenatal appointments, Kaiser Permanente ob-gyn Genea Lawrence, MD, asked how Anonye felt about breastfeeding, addressed her concerns, and explained the health benefits. Online classes reinforced that information.
Tiffany Anonye with her sons, Andrew (left) and Alex (right).
And when baby Alex arrived 6 weeks early, a dedicated care team helped the preemie thrive.
A nurse showed Anonye different breastfeeding positions and helped Alex latch on to her breast. This time, Anonye was given a dual electric breast pump and hands-on instruction in how to pump and store her milk.
Most helpful for Anonye was the support she received from lactation consultant Ilyssa Haar at weekly appointments.
“When my period started and my milk production dropped, she fit me in for a video appointment the same day … When I had to have surgery and couldn’t breastfeed for a while, she told me how to maintain my milk supply by pumping.
“It feels like Ilyssa is just as committed to making breastfeeding work as I am,” said Anonye. “I don’t think I could have made it on this journey without her.”
Learn more about the benefits of breastfeeding.
