Liberation Centered Lactation Care

Written By BADT

By Ashli Crew Rodriguez


As Pride Month comes to a close, we’re reminded that the fight for justice, inclusion, and bodily autonomy never ends—it just evolves. At Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (BADT), our Full Spectrum Lactation Educator Training stands at the intersection of birth justice, body literacy, and LGBTQ+ liberation.

Lactation is often framed through a narrow, cis-centered lens—but feeding our babies is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Chestfeeding, induced lactation, donor milk, bodyfeeding after top surgery—these realities exist, and they deserve competent, compassionate support.

Our training doesn’t just teach how lactation works—it unteaches what we’ve been told lactation should look like. We equip educators to serve all bodies, all families, and all feeding journeys. Because when we honor the full spectrum of identity and experience, we move closer to a world where care is not just accessible—but liberatory.

Intersectionality and Liberation in Practice

At BADT, we know that lactation does not happen in a vacuum. It is deeply impacted by race, gender identity, socioeconomic status, ability, immigration status, and access to care. That’s why we approach lactation education through the lens of intersectionality—a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe how overlapping systems of oppression shape lived experiences.

When we center intersectionality in lactation education, we ask:

  • What does support look like for a trans parent navigating chestfeeding while facing healthcare discrimination?

  • How do we honor the ancestral knowledge of Black and Indigenous communities while also acknowledging medical harm and systemic mistrust?

  • How do we create care plans that reflect a person’s whole life—not just their feeding goals?

Liberation in practice means seeing beyond protocols. It means affirming identities, respecting bodily autonomy, and offering care that is not rooted in compliance but in consent and community. It’s knowing that lactation support can be a tool of resistance—a way to reclaim power, nurture future generations, and challenge oppressive systems.

We aren’t just training lactation educators. We’re cultivating liberatory caregivers.

Reclaiming the Narrative: Challenging Dominant Lenses in Lactation

Too often, reproduction and lactation are framed through a heteronormative and Eurocentric lens—one that centers white, cisgender, able-bodied, middle-class experiences. This limited view erases the realities of the communities most impacted by disparities in perinatal care.

At BADT, we disrupt that narrative.

As Full Spectrum Lactation Educators, we affirm that lactation is for everybody—including queer, trans, disabled, and multiply marginalized families. We acknowledge that there are many paths to reproduction, and that cultural context deeply shapes how lactation is practiced, perceived, and supported.

We also uplift the principles of disability justice, recognizing that the ability to lactate or bodyfeed is not a measure of worthiness—and that accessibility, not perfection, must be the goal.

The question we ask isn’t just, “Who gets to feed their baby with human milk?” We ask:

  • Who is seen as fit to bodyfeed?

  • Who is excluded from lactation spaces—explicitly or implicitly?

  • What barriers exist for those outside the margins?

Our role is to expand the frame—not reinforce it. Full spectrum lactation education means challenging what has been normalized, reclaiming what has been erased, and offering care that sees the whole person, not just their feeding outcome.

LGBTQIA+ Lactation Challenges and Options

For LGBTQIA+ families, the journey to parenthood often comes with added layers of complexity—discrimination, lack of access to competent providers, affordability barriers, and even legal challenges in some regions. These inequities don’t stop at conception or birth—they carry through into the postpartum period and impact how, when, and whether someone can lactate or bodyfeed.

As Full Spectrum Lactation Educators, it's our responsibility to understand the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ parents and affirm their feeding goals without bias. That begins with knowing the full range of lactation options available—and removing shame or stigma from any path.

Lactation options for LGBTQIA+ families may include:

  • Biological nursing from the birthing parent

  • Induced lactation for non-gestating parents (including trans, nonbinary, or AFAB individuals (AFAB = assigned female at birth))

  • Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) used on either parent or caregiver

  • Exclusive pumping with bottles

  • Formula feeding as a valid, supported choice

No method is more “natural” or “right” than another. What matters is informed decision-making, access to support, and the right to feed your baby with dignity—regardless of identity or journey to parenthood.

Inclusive lactation care means showing up with knowledge, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to affirming every body.

Racial Disparities and the Power of Support in Bodyfeeding

When we talk about full spectrum lactation education, we must also confront the racial disparities that shape who continues to bodyfeed—and who doesn't. Structural racism, lack of culturally competent providers, and generational trauma all contribute to the uneven rates of lactation continuation across racial groups in the United States.

According to data from BMC Public Health, among people who continued to bodyfeed past 10 weeks:

  • Black/African American: 57.2%

  • American Indian: 60.5%

  • Hispanic/Latinx: 64.4%

  • White: 73.4%

  • Asian: 80.6%

This isn’t about personal choice—it’s about systemic access, community trust, and support. The same study found that friends, family, and support groups had the most significant influence on whether people continued to bodyfeed. Conversely, a lack of support from providers and loved ones was a major reason for early weaning or stopping altogether.

This data underscores what we already know in our communities:

  • ✨ Support sustains bodyfeeding.

  • ✨ Community care is a public health strategy.

  • ✨ Representation and culturally responsive support matter.

At BADT, we don’t just train educators to teach lactation—we train them to recognize how oppression plays out in feeding experiences and to actively shift those outcomes through affirming, community-rooted care.

Unpacking History: Black Lactation and the Legacy of Wet Nursing

To understand current Black bodyfeeding rates in the United States, we must first reckon with the historical trauma that shaped them.

During slavery, enslaved Black birthing people were forced to bodyfeed the children of their enslavers—often at the expense of their own babies. This brutal practice, known as wet nursing, was not only dehumanizing but created a deep rupture in the generational trust around lactation, nourishment, and autonomy.

The legacy of this trauma is still present. It shows up in:

  • Mistrust of medical and lactation providers

  • Limited access to culturally aligned lactation support

  • Persistent disparities in who is seen, affirmed, and resourced when it comes to feeding

While less than 2% of IBCLCs (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) in the U.S. identify as Black, similar gaps in representation exist across many communities of color—limiting access to providers who share cultural understanding and lived experience.

This isn’t just a representation issue—it’s a barrier to equity.

At BADT, we believe that acknowledging history is part of healing. Our Full Spectrum Lactation Educator Training centers Black wisdom, Black bodies, and Black liberation as core to the path forward in lactation justice.

Honoring Indigenous Wisdom and Exposing Ongoing Harm

Indigenous cultures have long honored lactation as a sacred practice—a vital part of parent-child bonding and community health. For many Indigenous communities, bodyfeeding is deeply rooted in ancestral knowledge, land-based practices, and traditional teachings passed down through generations.

But colonization disrupted these lifeways.

From forced removals to boarding schools and child welfare policies, Indigenous families have endured generations of state-sanctioned trauma, often through the intentional separation of children from their parents. These practices weren’t accidental—they were part of a broader agenda to erase Indigenous identity and force assimilation.

That harm continues today:

  • Many Indigenous families are still disconnected from their traditional lands and cultural practices.

  • Structural barriers continue to limit access to affirming, culturally grounded lactation care.

  • Fewer than 1% of IBCLCs in the United States identify as Indigenous, making it especially difficult for Indigenous parents to find providers who understand their cultural background or traditional practices around lactation.

These are not just statistics—they are reminders that lactation support cannot be decolonized without acknowledging whose wisdom was pushed aside in the first place.

At BADT, we honor Indigenous knowledge as essential to the future of lactation justice—and we work to ensure that our trainings reflect the needs, histories, and brilliance of Indigenous communities.

Centering Disability Justice in Lactation Support

According to the CDC, a disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities or interact with the world around them.

And yet—people with disabilities are rarely included in conversations about lactation.

Too often, ableism is built into lactation spaces—from inaccessible materials and training to providers who make harmful assumptions about a person’s ability to bodyfeed or care for their infant.

At BADT, we believe that Full Spectrum Lactation Educators must actively challenge this erasure.

This means:

  • Expanding our conversations to include mental, physical, developmental, and chronic disabilities

  • Asking questions that center the needs of people with disabilities, rather than overlooking or pathologizing them

  • Creating care plans that prioritize access, adaptability, and dignity

  • Offering trauma-informed, nonjudgmental support for all bodyfeeding goals

Lactation is not just a physical act—it’s a relational experience, rooted in trust, emotional connection, and shared rhythms between parent and baby. For example, bodyfeeding can foster deep bonding by encouraging parents to learn their baby's cues, regulate each other’s stress, and build rhythms of connection through skin-to-skin contact and mutual presence. Everyone, regardless of ability, deserves the right to bond, feed, and be supported in ways that affirm their full humanity.

Challenges for lactating parents with disabilities can include:

  • Difficulty finding competent, affirming lactation support

  • Communication barriers with providers

  • Intense pressure to bodyfeed or biased assumptions about their capabilities

  • Lack of accessible or tailored educational resources

  • Milk supply or latch challenges due to physical limitations

  • Inadequate enforcement or awareness of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accommodations


💭 Reflection Prompt:
How can your lactation education practice support the needs of parents with disabilities?
Who is missing from your imagery, your language, your trainings—and how can you change that?

Disability justice is lactation justice.
Access is not optional—it is a right.

A Call to Liberatory Care

Liberation-centered lactation education is not just about expanding access—it’s about transforming systems. It asks us to move beyond inclusion and toward true affirmation. It reminds us that every feeding journey is political, every body is worthy, and every act of care can be a radical one.

At BADT, we believe in building a future where lactation support is rooted in justice, culture, and community. Whether you're an educator, advocate, or parent, there is space for you in this work—and there is work to do.

We invite you to learn with us, unlearn what no longer serves, and imagine what’s possible when we center liberation in every drop of care.

Explore More: Lactation Education & Support Resources

Whether you're on the path to becoming an IBCLC, seeking herbal lactation knowledge, or simply looking to expand your understanding of full spectrum support, these resources are a great place to begin:

📘 IBCLC Pathways & Accreditation

🧪 Herbal & Holistic Lactation Support

🌍 Global & Inclusive Lactation Training

🤝 Community & Support Spaces

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