Rachael Lorenzo: Indigenous women support our family with food

I am doing the best I can as an urban indigenous woman. I do not always remember to put my cornmeal down at sunrise, the Pueblo way. I keep forgetting to ask my tribal home visitor to bring us some pollen so I can teach my daughter how to pray the Apache way. But one thing I always remember to do is feed my family. Eating is one of the most sacred things we do as Native people. To me, breastfeeding is also sacred. It is one of the hardest things I have ever done as a mother.

Thankfully there are growing movements surrounding indigenous breastfeeding. The Navajo Nation Breastfeeding Coalition is gaining prominence and started a “Mommy Cafe” where mothers and babies gather together to socialize. Young Women United created a Twitter chat called “#1stSacredFood,” by and for Native women and parents, last year. This year, it got over double the exposure.

When I was pregnant with my first child, Adalie, I was inundated with “breast is best” rhetoric. There was so much pressure to exclusively breastfeed from the media, my WIC caseworker, my peers, strangers on the street and in the store. I watched “The Business of Being Born” on Netflix over and over again.