Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor
Local and national news, NPR, things to do, food recommendations and guides to Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire
Donate
Stay Connected

LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network.

Listen
Donate

Share This
Early Childhood Education

How To Have The Pregnancy You Deserve, According To Black Parents And Maternal Health Experts

By  Stefanie Ritoper  and Elly Yu
Published Apr 21, 2024 5:00 AM
A medium-light skin tone Black woman with straightened hair pulled back in a long ponytail crouches next to her son’s stroller with a big smile on her face as she looks at him. Her son, a medium skin tone baby with a soft striped hoodie and grey leggings, looks at the camera with a big smile and his tongue sticking out behind two front teeth.
Chanel Bates with her son Noah at Black Women for Wellness's film screening during Black Maternal Health Week.
(
Stefanie Ritoper
/
LAist
)

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

We already know that the health and mortality stats about Black babies and mothers don’t look good. The statistics about racial disparities point to a long history of systemic issues, with structural racism at the root.

Listen • 0:50
How To Have The Pregnancy You Deserve, According To Black Parents And Maternal Health Experts

But if you’re pregnant, how can you set yourself up for the healthy pregnancy you deserve?

Sometimes it helps to hear from others who have been through it before.

Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor

During Black Maternal Health Week, we asked Black parents and maternal health advocates to share wisdom and affirmations for parents-to-be.

Pregnant. Now What?

The following are some highlights.

Tap into your network and make a plan

Effie Turnbull Sanders, vice president of civic engagement and economic partnerships at USC, says it’s important to be informed. “Tapping into your own network of mothers, friends, sisters, aunties, grandmothers to really collect information is really where I would start,” she says.

A medium skin tone Black woman looks straight at the camera. She has medium-length curly black hair and is wearing bright red lipstick, big artistic gold earrings, and a zip up jacket with wavy red, pink, green and white patterns on it.
Effie Turnbull Sanders says it's important to tap into your network for advice you can make informed choices.
(
Stefanie Ritoper
/
LAist
)

She says that when she was pregnant, she channeled her fears about the risks of giving birth as a Black woman into planning. She brought five copies of her birth plan when she went into the hospital to make sure that her medical team understood her wishes. (More on birth plans.)

Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor

Having someone there who can help advocate for you when it’s hard physically or emotionally to speak up is helpful, she says. This could be your partner, a loved one, or a doula. (What is a doula and where can you find one? See LAist’s guide to doulas.)

Get familiar with your rights

“It's important for you to do a bit of research and understand what exactly your rights are,” says Gabrielle Brown, maternal and infant health program manager at Black Women for Wellness.

She points to the Black Birthing Bill of Rights, which Black Women for Wellness helped to create. It’s a document that outlines rights and resources — like the right to have a doula or the right to getting care in a way that incorporates cultural practices.

Last week, the group hosted a bus tour to take expectant moms to birthing resources and hospitals around Los Angeles, giving them an opportunity to ask questions.

Get a second opinion

Kayla Blair, a medical student at USC and intern with Black Women for Wellness, says don’t always take the first option that is presented to you. She says patients can shop around for a doctor or a doula.

Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor

“It’s important to explore what options are out there — similarly to how people say, get a second opinion,” she says. “It's important for you to look into the different types of providers that can, that can support you during your pregnancy and birthing process.”

Take care of your body. Find your community.

With a seven-month-old, parent Astra Marie shares that she has noticed that her body has changed a lot since birth.

Two medium-dark skin tone Black women smile at the camera. Astra Marie, on the left, wears her natural hair tied up on her head, and has metallic green eyeliner and plexiglass flower earrings to match. On the right, Nneka Gigi wears her short natural hair up back with a cream-colored headband. She wears a cream-colored sweatshirt that says Crenshaw, and is carrying Astra’s sleeping son on her shoulder.
Parent Astra Marie says slowing down to take care of your body is important.
(
Stefanie Ritoper
/
LAist
)

She says that you always hear during pregnancy that you should get sleep, but that sleep is minor in the bigger scheme of things. “You're gonna lose sleep. You're gonna get a little sleep. Who knows?”

Instead, her main advice is this: “Take time to take care of your body. Just be gentle with your body and give your body grace. Sit down. Breathe. Stretch. Don't do too much.”

She also says that finding your community is also important. She has found community at BreastfeedLA’s Black breastfeeding support group, Titties ‘n’ Tea, but says that anywhere you feel safe can work. She says some other places to find support include CinnaMoms, the L.A. County Black Infants and Families Initiative, and the African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Community Action Teams. “Find [community] somewhere because you're going to need it.” (See more pregnancy and postpartum support resources below.)

Support for LAist comes from
Become a sponsor

There’s no right or wrong way to raise your child

Sharron, a medium skin tone Black woman and her daughter Maya look at the camera in this selfie. Sharron has her straightened hair pulled back, a big smile on her face, and is wearing a collared chambray shirt. Maya has her hair parted in the middle with two pigtail braids and is making a silly face, with her lips pursed and to the side.
Parent Sharron Hickman Smith says to remember this: "Whatever you're doing is right. There's no right or wrong way to raise your child."
(
Stefanie Ritoper
/
LAist
)

Sharron Hickman Smith shares that when she was a new mom, she struggled for weeks to breastfeed her daughter. She didn’t realize that her baby wasn’t getting as much milk as she needed.

“I just wish that somebody said, like, as long as she's fed, that's the best thing for her,” she says.

Her advice to new parents: “Whatever you're doing is right. There's no right or wrong way to raise your child.”

In fact, "I determine what is right for my baby" is one of the points on the Black Birthing Bill of Rights.

Speak up, and be persistent

“Speak up. Your voice means everything,” says Rhonda Clayton, a CinnaMoms breastfeeding peer counselor. “You are your advocate, you are your baby's advocate.”

A medium-dark skin tone Black woman looks at the camera with her right hand on her hip and a big smile. She has shoulder-length straightened auburn-colored hair, and is wearing a purple colored t-shirt that says CinnaMoms.
Rhonda Clayton says that speaking up can help pregnant people have better birth outcomes.
(
Stefanie Ritoper
/
LAist
)

She says that it’s important for pregnant people to know that it’s OK to express their needs and desires to their medical team. Each person has the right to switch doctors, to deliver in the setting of your choice, and offer breast milk to their babies. She says that being forward can make a difference in pregnancy outcomes. (Read LAist’s guide to advocating for yourself during pregnancy.)

And, persistence is key. “You might not be heard the first time, you may not be heard the second time, but if you keep making yourself seen and heard, there will be some changes,” Clayton says.

Remember that every day is a choice

Chanel Bates says that she owes her smooth birth experience to a team of Black doctors and nurses at Kaiser. She said that her labor was incredibly short — 20 minutes. “I felt very fortunate. It was not only quick, but I felt very taken care of.”

Now with her baby son in tow, she says that despite the hard work, having a child is the best thing that ever happened to her. Her advice for parents-to-be: Give yourself grace.

“Every day is a brand new choice and a brand new chance,” she says. “Even if we might have both had a hard day yesterday or a few hard days in a row … tomorrow is what I make it.”

For more information on navigating pregnancy and early parenthood, read LAist’s pregnancy guides.

Birth and Postpartum Resources

  • These resources were recommended by California birth workers and families. Have a suggestion? Email sritoper@scpr.org.

  • For more on specific topics, see LAist’s pregnancy guides.

  • Mental Health

  • Breastfeeding

  • Doulas / Postpartum Support

  • Doulas provide expecting and new mothers or birthing people with educational, emotional, and physical support before, during, and after a baby is born. Postpartum doulas’ services can include cooking, help around the house, and various healing modalities. Pro tip: many postpartum doulas are available pro-bono while they are seeking certification.

    • What Do Doulas Do? – LAist’s guide to doulas, including a list of resources to find a doula in Southern California.
    • Birthworkers of Color Collective – A collective of birth workers of color providing trainings, workshops, and healing offerings for birthworkers, pregnant people, and their families.
    • DONA International – Doula certifying organization that includes a search tool to find prenatal and postpartum doulas.

  • Support Groups

  • Many support groups and parent and me classes exist throughout Southern California, and the best way to find one is to search online for groups in your area. You might also find these groups through your hospital or places where you find breastfeeding gear. It sometimes helps to look for activities you enjoy (eg. yoga, swimming, dancing) and see if they have “baby and me” classes.

  • A few places to start:

    • Kindred Space – A hub for midwifery care, doula support, lactation consulting and support groups.
    • LOOM – Provides pregnancy, breastfeeding classes, and a doula directory.
    • Lucie’s List – Map of local parent groups.
    • Pump Station – Baby supply store that also offers parent and me classes.

  • For Black Parents-to-Be

  • For Partners / Fathers

    • Black Daddy Dialogues – Support group for dads raising Black children, every second Saturday of the month.
    • Love Dad – Home visits to fathers and their children throughout L.A. County  
    • The Expecting Fathers Group for Black Dads – Support group for Black soon-to-be fathers and provides education, support and navigation tools for the prenatal, labor and delivery, postpartum, and early parenting. 

  • Loss / Grief

  • Social Services 

As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.

Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.

We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.

Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.

Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist
Best of LAist