“Natural, like my hair”

The language of the natural has been employed as part of many breastfeeding promotion campaigns. However, less attention has been given to some of the specific connotations the term natural has for African American women. My research suggests that while framing breastfeeding as natural resonated with many mothers in this target audience, others resisted this idea. The ways that natural breastfeeding intersects with women’s own understandings of their breastfeeding experiences, as well as with larger structural issues related to racialized breastfeeding inequities, have significant implications for breastfeeding advocacy and education.