UNCG Researchers Aim to Bring Down Barriers to Breastfeeding
It’s no secret to most parents that breastfeeding is tough. But popular culture tends to present this critical activity as effortless and intuitive – setting some parents up for a surprise when they face barriers, including lack of time, support, and confidence, as well as physical limitations.
Dr. Jasmine DeJesus, an associate professor in psychology, recently experienced difficulties breastfeeding her first child. “I just have one experience with one kid, but it’s really opened my mind up: What are the bigger range of experiences?” she asks.
Now, DeJesus and Dr. Jigna Dharod, associate professor in nutrition, are leading a $784,369 NIH-funded trial to reduce some of the barriers Latine parents face when breastfeeding.
It’s a needed project with trickle-down impacts that can help address the high obesity rate among U.S. Latine children. Almost half of the adult U.S. Latino population is obese, and infant nutrition serves as the foundation for lifelong health.
Formula feeding is linked to rapid weight gain in infants, which is in turn linked to childhood obesity and to lifelong obesity, the researchers say.
In a 2023 study of low-income families, Dharod and DeJesus found infants fed only formula had three times higher risk for rapid weight gain.
“Infancy is a very important life stage. It’s a highly developmental phase, and it’s a phase of immense opportunities,” Dharod says. “At the same time, any vulnerabilities during this phase can have a lifelong impact.”
In their latest investigation, the researchers want to know whether peer counselors and financial compensation can help increase parents’ confidence in continuing with breastfeeding.
The duo bring decades of complementary, cross-disciplinary expertise to a topic they both found somewhat unexpectedly.
DeJesus’s love of food and fascination with culture led her to research on child-parent interactions and social learning with food. “My dad is Puerto Rican. My mom is Jewish, and I grew up here in the U.S.,” DeJesus says. “Even as a little kid, I knew that food and language were things that marked our family’s cultural background.”
Over 8,000 miles away from DeJesus, Dharod grew up in India and observed firsthand how access to food can lift people out of poverty. She decided to pursue research on food insecurity. During her doctoral studies, she became curious about maternal and child nutrition and health equity. “Breastfeeding ensures food security for the infant, especially for the first six months,” she says.
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