Sembrando y Cosechando Amor: A Holistic Breastfeeding Story

Sembrando Amor was a collaborative effort between Community Experts, public health professionals, and university-based action researchers, each of whom made explicit decisions to work outside of their normal roles for the good of the broader community and of our shared Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) project. The project, which included a Photovoice and cartoon zining process, centers community experiences and voices with the intent to honor their role as experts in frontline matters that impact them as an institutionally marginalized community. Our main outcome is a community-driven vision for what a holistic breastfeeding support system looks like—a system that engages the expertise present in community breastfeeding experiences and wisdom, creates solidarity and builds on family support, critically engages the social determinants of health, and recasts the helpers to enable community-centered care. By sharing their stories of resilience, we hope to encourage others in the community to breastfeed and encourage institutions to learn from their stories and experiences to change policy and attitudes to more effectively support breastfeeding in ways that are meaningful, practical, and culturally and linguistically sensitive and supportive for their needs and goals.