“I witnessed disparities in how lactation support was provided,” Allen says. “People who needed the services weren’t getting it.”

For years, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization have recommended exclusively breastfeeding for up to six months. Several barriers stand in the way of this goal, especially for Black women, who have the lowest breastfeeding initiation rate of all races, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

Allen co-authored a 2021 research paper on structural racism and barriers for African American families on the South Side who choose to breastfeed. For one, they do not have sufficient health care services at their disposal. Where services do exist, research also shows a lack of knowledge about breastfeeding best practices and an undervaluing of breastfeeding.

“A lot of health care providers and nurses assume that Black women don’t breastfeed, so they don’t talk to them about breastfeeding,” says Urmeka Jefferson, an associate professor in the Department of Women, Children & Family Nursing at Rush University, who was not involved in the research.

After delivery, Black mothers are also more likely to need to return to work, where they have inflexible schedules, rendering it nearly impossible for them to express milk.