Although the overwhelming majority of new mothers want to breastfeed, less than 25% to 30% find success. (Contributed photo)
When Ann Kellams, MD, became pregnant with her first child, she felt prepared. “How can you be more prepared than being a pediatrician, right?” she said.
She was shocked to find out, when having trouble breastfeeding her first baby, no one in her office or hospital knew how to help. That set her on a path to ensure no other new parents would endure similar experiences and, decades later, she remains committed to that mission.
Kellams has been a pediatrician at UVA Health and a pediatrics professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine since 2006. She helped found the UVA Breastfeeding Medicine Program in 2011 and has served as the vice chair of clinical affairs of the pediatrics department since 2019.
Ann Kellams, MD
She is also the lead author of a recent study published in Breastfeeding Medicine identifying the main barriers to breastfeeding, based on patient interviews. The research was a collaboration between the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, of which Kellams is the immediate past president, and Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing breastfeeding support for Black families.
“We wanted to capture the nuances of what people are really experiencing and feeling,” Kellams said. “As a marker of success, we didn’t just ask moms if they were breastfeeding exclusively and for how long. We wanted to know what was important to them; if they had everything they needed to breastfeed for as long as they wanted.”
Read the full article written by Zeina Mohammed for UVA Today.
Filed Under: Clinical, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion