Life with a newborn can be challenging, but breastfeeding doesn't have to be.  

That's the message one support group in Brownsville is trying to spread across the borough and beyond.

Every mom at the Chocolate Milk Cafe has her own reason for attending the support group started by certified nurse midwife and board-certified lactation consultant Shamika Wiggins.

Wiggins says she wanted to get the word out about breastfeeding specifically to women of color. 

“The statistics currently for women of color in terms of rates of initiation of breastfeeding and sustaining breastfeeding are lower than people of other demographics,” says Wiggins. “East New York and Brownsville have even lower rates among women of color.”

The Chocolate Mild Café launched in March of last year and consists of a monthly meeting where mothers gather for a peer-to-peer support group to discuss evidence-based information and develop proper practices when it comes to breastfeeding. 

“People will come up with a lot of cultural myths, so I like to have like a moment and I call it a myth-buster moment,” says Wiggins.

In Brooklyn, the group typically meets the first Wednesday of each month at the SCO Family of Services building on Saratoga Avenue where they learn from specialists and each other about motherhood and life overall.  

“For me I got to talk about everything and feel like I wasn't alone,” says member Ario Pierre Sutton. “It may not necessarily be about a baby, but things that face women of color and so it was really helpful to me because you want to help each other and support each other in the group.”