Breastfeeding rates among African-American women lag behind all other ethnic groups. National data show that only 45% of African-American women reported ever breastfeeding compared to 66 and 68% of Hispanic and white women, respectively. Of African-American women who do choose to breastfeed, duration is short, with many discontinuing in the first days after birth. This report applies a social ecological framework to breastfeeding to investigate macrolevel-microlevel linkages. We posit that macrolevel factors, such as the media, aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes, welfare reform, hospital policy and breastfeeding legislation, interact with microlevel factors to influence a woman's decision to breastfeed. These microlevel factors include features of the community, neighborhoods, workplaces that support or discourage breastfeeding, social and personal networks and cultural norms and individual beliefs about breastfeeding. The report discusses how power operates at each level to influence women's choices and also emphasizes the value of ethnographic data in breastfeeding studies. Through a case study of a sample of low income, African-American women living in Baltimore, MD, where breastfeeding role models are few, beliefs that discourage breastfeeding are many, and where everyday life is full of danger and fear, it is understandable that breastfeeding is not considered practical. The narrative data provide important information that can be used to enhance intervention efforts. To reach the Surgeon General's Healthy People 2010 breastfeeding goals requires a shift in cultural norms and structures at all levels that will support breastfeeding for all women.

We evaluated the single and combined effects of introducing a motivational video and peer counseling into four matched WIC clinics on breastfeeding initiation and continuation at 7-10 days among African-American WIC participants. Of the 242 women with complete data, 48% initiated breastfeeding, but only 31% were still breastfeeding at 7-10 days. Initiation was associated with cesarean delivery, infant feeding instruction, no artificial milk discharge pack, attending the peer counselor only-intervention site, and intention to breastfeed. Continuation was influenced by infant feeding instruction, no artificial milk discharge pack, and intention to breastfeed. Overall, trends toward a positive impact of the breastfeeding promotion activities were evident but weak, and largely gone by 7-10 days postpartum.

To examine how individuals within a woman's life influence her infant feeding intention, we interviewed 441 African-American women on the breastfeeding attitudes and experiences of their friends, relatives, mother, and the baby's father. Women were interviewed at entry into prenatal care at clinics associated with one of four Baltimore WIC clinics chosen for a breastfeeding promotion project. Qualitative data were also collected among 80 women. Friends and "other" relatives were not influential. Grandmothers' opinions and experiences were important, but their influence was reduced after considering the opinion of the baby's father. The opinion of the woman's doctor was an independent predictor of infant feeding intention. Breastfeeding promotion programs should recognize the separate influence of fathers, health providers, and grandmothers in women's infant feeding decisions.

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