Breastfeeding Awareness Month: Awareness Is Only the Beginning

Every August, National Breastfeeding Awareness Month invites us to celebrate the remarkable health benefits of human milk and recognize the dedication of mothers who nourish their babies through breastfeeding. It is also a time to honor the extraordinary generosity of milk donors whose gifts make it possible for medically fragile infants to receive life-saving pasteurized donor human milk when their own mother's milk is unavailable.

But if we're honest, awareness alone isn't enough.

Every year we encourage mothers to breastfeed. We remind families that breast milk is the optimal source of infant nutrition. We share the science, the recommendations, and the benefits.

Yet we rarely stop to ask a more important question:

Are we giving families the support they need to succeed?

For many parents, breastfeeding doesn't end because they lack determination. It ends because they run into barriers that are difficult to overcome.

In many ways, breastfeeding has become a question of opportunity in America.

Research consistently shows that mothers with higher incomes, paid parental leave, flexible workplaces and strong support systems are far more likely to reach their breastfeeding goals. Meanwhile, families with fewer financial resources often return to work sooner, work jobs with rigid schedules or lack access to private pumping spaces and adequate break time. These aren't differences in commitment but they're differences in circumstance.

The numbers tell the story. Nearly 86% of U.S. babies born in 2022 began breastfeeding, but only 62% were still receiving breast milk at six months, and just 28% were exclusively breastfed for the recommended first six months of life. Even more telling, nearly 60% of mothers stop breastfeeding earlier than they intended, with inadequate parental leave and workplace challenges among the most commonly reported reasons.

Those barriers are not shared equally. Families participating in WIC are less likely to breastfeed than higher-income families. Breastfeeding rates remain lower among Black families than among White, Hispanic and Asian families. Rural communities often have less access to maternity care, lactation support, and breastfeeding-friendly workplaces.

These statistics remind us of something important:

Breastfeeding is a public health issue, but too often we treat it as an individual responsibility.

If we truly believe that human milk gives babies the healthiest start in life, then our policies should reflect that belief. Breastfeeding should never depend on a family's income, employer, ZIP code or job title.

At Mothers' Milk Bank Southeast, we see every day what happens when families receive the support they need. We partner with hospitals caring for premature and medically fragile infants, provide pasteurized donor human milk to families after discharge and walk alongside parents during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

This Breastfeeding Awareness Month, let's raise our expectations—not of mothers, but of ourselves.

Let's build workplaces that support breastfeeding instead of making it harder.

Let's advocate for policies that give families the time and resources they need.

Let's expand access to lactation care and donor human milk.

Let's create communities where every parent has a genuine opportunity to meet their feeding goals.

Because no mother should have to choose between feeding her baby and earning a paycheck.

No baby's access to human milk should depend on a parent's income or occupation.

Awareness may start the conversation, but action is what changes outcomes.

When we remove barriers, we don't just improve breastfeeding rates, but we give more babies the healthiest possible start, strengthen families and invest in the future health of our communities.

— Amy Painter, Executive Director of Mothers' Milk Bank Southeast