The Racial Divide of Breastfeeding in the U.S.

'In 2011, the United States Breastfeeding Committee declared August National Breastfeeding Month, as a way to promote and support breastfeeding. But the decision to breastfeed, and access to resources around it, can vary a lot depending on your race. In the U.S., white, educated women are more likely to breastfeed and for longer periods, and some reasons for that are deeply rooted in our nation’s history. Kimberly Seals Allers, strategist for maternal and infant health and author of The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding, and Andrea Freeman, associate professor of law at the University of Hawaii and author of Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race and Injustice, join The Takeaway to talk about racial disparities in breastfeeding in the U.S.'