When Dr. Charlee King walked into a hospital to give birth to her daughter in 2015, she didn’t expect the experience to change her life’s direction.
But after a traumatic delivery marked by severe pain, being ignored by her physician and a last-minute emergency C-section that saved both her and her child, King emerged with a new mission to fight for maternal health equity for Black women.
“I was in unbearable pain and my doctor wouldn’t listen,” said King, a Houston-based public health scientist, maternal health advocate and founder of Mommy Sweet Treats & Company.
“The only reason my daughter and I are alive today is because my doctor left early for her birthday, another doctor came in and immediately rushed me to surgery.”
That near-death experience fueled her transition from nursing to public health. Today, King is the creator of The Breastfeeding Blueprint, a culturally grounded guide that addresses the unique challenges Black mothers face when breastfeeding, from lack of access and misinformation to deeply rooted cultural stigma.
Black Breastfeeding Week (August 25–31) shines a light on a crisis rooted not just in health care but in history. A 2023 report revealed Black mothers were the least likely to initiate breastfeeding in 2020 and 2021, trailing all other racial groups.
Filling the gaps in breastfeeding support
To understand breastfeeding disparities, King says we have to go back generations, to slavery. Black women were forced to nurse white children during slavery, while being denied the right to feed their own.
Historians call this wet-nursing, a brutal form of reproductive labor. These historical violations, combined with aggressive formula marketing to Black communities and workplace barriers, have left many Black mothers disconnected from breastfeeding.
Today, Black women are more likely to return to work sooner, often in jobs with rigid hours and no breastfeeding accommodations. Many also lack access to lactation consultants and culturally relevant education.
King’s struggles didn’t end with childbirth. Despite knowing she wanted to breastfeed, hospital staff lacked the proper training to help her.
“The lactation-trained nurses are mostly in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They’re not even on the regular floor with the mothers,” she said.
This gap inspired King to create solutions. First came her lactation cookie business, developed after hearing a Black nurse confess she had no idea certain foods could help with milk production. King worked with a chemist to create effective and palatable cookies.
Then came The Breastfeeding Blueprint, which addresses myths, techniques, mental health, milk storage and even baby belly size, a crucial detail many new mothers misunderstand.
“Black women’s breast milk is in high demand at milk banks,” she said. “It’s powerful. But culturally, we’ve been discouraged or embarrassed to breastfeed due to generations of trauma and misinformation.”
One of King’s most impactful initiatives is the Mommy Room Lactation Suites, safe, private breastfeeding spaces she’s helped establish at her alma mater, Texas Southern University, Memorial Hermann and community organizations like BakerRipley.
Jasmine Robinson is the founder of Collegiate Moms, a nonprofit that supports student parents in higher education.
“I had my daughter as a teen while in college. I wasn’t taught about breastfeeding. They just put my baby on Similac and sent me home,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t until later that I realized how much I didn’t know and was never told.”
She also experienced postpartum depression and felt isolated. “There were no resources, no spaces, no encouragement. People around me, even family, didn’t support the idea of being a mother and a student. You’re made to feel like you have to choose one.”
Through her work, Robinson connected with King at community events and the two women began collaborating on projects, including efforts to bring lactation suites to Prairie View A&M University.
“When student moms walk into a campus building and see a Mommy Room, it tells them they belong,” Robinson said. “They’re not invisible.”
As Black Breastfeeding Week approaches, King wants mothers to know they aren’t alone.
“I wish I had been more intentional about when I got pregnant, who I had a child with and how to prepare mentally,” she said. “Your mental health affects everything, even your milk supply.”
