Last summer, I began working in Mobile and Baldwin counties to understand how multiple disasters (I.e., the compounding effects of tornados, hurricanes, flooding, and COVID-19) impact perceptions of infant feeding, health, and well-being.
Research Questions
I had two research questions:
How are infant feeding practices shaped by multiple natural disasters, structural inequities, and poor infant health outcomes in Alabama’s gulf coast?
How are these relationships associated with perceptions of infant health in Alabama’s gulf coast?
Community Engaged Work & Methods
To answer these questions, I interviewed 10 mothers/birth givers and 10 perinatal healthcare providers about their experiences providing care during multiple disasters. I partnered with the Mobile County Health Department, Butterflies Dancing Perinatal Support, Dwell Mobile, and the Gulf Coast Doula Collective to learn more about perinatal health in Southern Alabama. I also attended educational classes at a Pregnancy Crisis Center, where I met with mothers/birth givers from all over Mobile.
My community partners helped me recruit mothers and providers for my study. They also taught me how to provide non-clinical services to moms/birth givers. I was lucky enough to attend Jennifer Crigger's Childbirth Class, where I learned the basics of childbirth, positioning for labor, and soothing techniques for labor pain. These experiences informed my decision to become a birth and postpartum doula.
Results
The results of our study paint a complex picture of maternal stress and low breastfeeding rates. My research team found that multiple disasters expose two larger, structural issues that impact perinatal health: health inequities and institutional policies (or lack thereof). Without paid parental leave, mothers and birth givers found navigating early motherhood particularly difficult.
Next Steps
The next steps are to publish these results in an academic journal. However, I believe that making this information accessible to the public is important, especially when thinking about how to care for birth givers and infants during the postpartum period.
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