Breastfeeding All Around The Bay
by Jasmine Marquez, IBCLC
We are so excited to share this Kickstarter campaign for Breastfeeding All Around The Bay, a new children's book authored by Jasmine Marquez, IBCLC. This fantastic book normalizes breastfeeding and promotes positive images of black breastfeeding, breastfeeding in public, and infant feeding at the breast for children and adults. And it mentions some specific areas that our military families in the San Francisco Bay Area may recognize! My name is Jasmine Marquez, and I am an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in the San Francisco Bay Area. My passion is preventative health, specifically in the field of maternal, infant, and child health. I have also always had a passion for early literacy and after having my daughter, felt inspired to write a children’s book of my own.
I noticed in the many board and picture books I have for my daughter, not one shows a baby being breastfed, few have Black characters, and none show interracial families, so I wrote and illustrated a book that has all of the above and titled it Breastfeeding All Around The Bay.
Women should feel comfortable and supported to breastfeed their baby out in public. The need for children’s books, TV shows, and movies to start showing babies breastfeeding is real. Infant feeding in media is almost always portrayed with a bottle. It’s difficult to normalize something when it’s not seen anywhere.
As a lactation consultant, I often hear that moms haven’t seen or been around breastfeeding women until they themselves got pregnant and started seeking out videos in preparation. How wonderful would it be for children to be exposed to this normal biological process not only directly from breastfeeding, but also indirectly in our books, TV shows, and movies?
From the perspective of a very hungry newborn, Breastfeeding All Around The Bay:
Normalizes breastfeeding in public, a right every women has with or without a breastfeeding cover
Features a Black women breastfeeding. Rates for initiation and duration of breastfeeding for Black women in the United States are the lowest comparatively to other races, but there are nationwide movements happening to help decrease this health disparity. Supporting this book is just one of many things that can be done to help.
Highlights an interracial couple, something that is also rarely seen and reflects the my family. I wanted my daughter to grow up reading stories that have families that look like ours.
All this packaged in a sturdy board book to withstand infant slobber and the enthusiasm in which toddlers turn pages.
Breastfeeding All Around The Bay is the first of many books of the same theme that will highlight popular places around major US cities while showing a baby being breastfed.
I am using Kickstarter as a platform folks can use to pre-order the book. Funds gathered from Kickstarter will help with the costs of running the first print of 1,000 sturdy board books. The campaign has 9 days left to meet its goal--and is already 74% funded! Anyone who pre-orders a copy of the physical book will also receive a copy of the E-book, printable breastfeeding flashcards that feature illustrations from the book, and a refrigerator magnet that has the current human milk storage guidelines so you know how to keep that liquid gold fresh!
Please feel free to spread the word to spread the word to anyone you feel would want to support more cultural inclusion in children's literature and normalizing breastfeeding.
Jasmine Marquez is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) who uses best practices to help families overcome any challenges they may be experiencing to reach their breastfeeding goals. Her passion is preventative health, specifically in the field of maternal, infant, and child health. She has also always had a passion for early literacy. Jasmine is from Union City, CA and she still calls the East Bay home with her husband and 18-month-old daughter, Margot. Jasmine is a HUGE San Francisco 49ers fan but please don’t hold that against her if you are a Seahawks fan or Raider fan thinking about supporting her campaign.
