Employers will be forced to provide lactation rooms at workplaces for breastfeeding mothers if Parliament passes a proposed law.
The Breastfeeding Mothers Bill, 2017 seeks to compel private and public companies to set aside special rooms for breastfeeding mothers to express milk for infants while at work freely.
Lactating mothers will also have double joy if MPs approve the Employment (Amendment Act), 2017 which seeks to extend the maternity period from three to six months. The bill by Buuri MP Kinoti Gatobu will amend section 29 of the Employment Act to prolong the maternity leave for three months without pay.
The breastfeeding bill provides a legal framework to enhance the mother-infant relationship, key in offering seamless bonding at the critical stage of growth.
The bill reads, “Breastfeeding is the first preventive health measure that can be given to a child at birth. It is nature’s first immunisations enabling the infant to fight potential serious infection.”
