Mommy's Gift to Me seeks to create a society where all women are inspired, empowered, and enabled to breastfeed their infants. By decreasing economic barriers to breastfeeding for new mothers, we hope to increase the rate of infant breastfeeding.

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As reported by the US Breastfeeding Committee, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the US has stagnated since 2022. Within racial groups, the resources and infrastructure to support and encourage breastfeeding remain unequal. The USBC continues to find that white infants are breastfed at higher rates than Black infants and Hispanic infants.

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Specifically, on the South Side of Chicago, structural racism and economic and social barriers remain key concerns toward increasing the rate of and access to exclusive breastfeeding. These factors contribute to a lack of funding for lactation services, and there are often inconsistencies in breastfeeding education and information given to new mothers. 

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For mothers in Chicago, new efforts to inspire exclusive breastfeeding through economic, accessibility-based, and educational initiatives are important to building a more sustainable culture around breastfeeding. Mommy's Gift to Me seeks to build the infrastructure needed to improve breastfeeding rates and disperse these resources to mothers at no cost. We believe that even a small community dedicated to encouraging breastfeeding will create a ripple effect around the country for greater social change.