Philadelphia postpartum health group empowers Black moms in breastfeeding and fight health disparities
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's a community based organization in Philadelphia designed to support Black and Brown mothers and improve breastfeeding rates. The CDC says Black moms are less likely to breastfeed their babies, compared to white moms and have more health issues.
Now a group called CocoLife aims to change that trend.
Eroleen Watkins and her 3-month-old baby Miles, talk to a doula about postpartum health.
They're together in Germantown through a maternal resource platform called CocoLife.
"The rates of disparity the for mortality and morbidity for our Black moms and babies are astronomical," the creator of CocoLife Alexia Doumbouya said.
Doumbouya created CocoLife to improve health outcomes for Black moms and their babies. Upping breast feeding rates is a big part of the mission.
"There is not a lot of focus on breastfeeding in the black community because of the systemic racism and," Doumbouya said. "Formula was being pushed So it's like why breastfeed that means the baby's gonna be clingy Go ahead and give that baby some formulas you can get back to work."
Doumbouya who's also a doula, which is a non medical professional specializing in maternal care, is helping to educate women.
"I think it's important to show What the different belly sizes are because what you will think is oh my gosh, my baby's not getting enough milk," Doumbouya said.
She uses fruit representing the size of a baby's stomach to demonstrate how much milk they need.
"It helped me understand so much like my baby doesn't need a formula amount of a big bottle," Watkins said.
Watkins says breastfeeding has been easy with Miles and he's growing fast.
She's comforted knowing breastfeeding is good for mom and babies mentally and physically.
"We just found out he has eczema and breast milk is better for his eczema," Watkins said.
CocoLife has a variety of programs and support groups to help women.