Breastfeeding should be protected, promoted and supported to give future generations a good foundation for life. It provides nutrients to infants below the age of six months for ideal growth. Each of us should take a role, from policymaking to implementation, and support breastfeeding mothers.
The WHO recommends optimal breastfeeding, which includes initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding up to two years or beyond after weaning. This has proved to be key in child survival and development. Optimal breastfeeding not only boosts a baby’s intelligence but also makes the mother more productive at work.
According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey of 2014, increasing rates of exclusive breastfeeding are commensurate with reduction in infant and child mortality rates. Additionally, though Kenya’s rate of exclusive breastfeeding at 61 per cent is on course, it falls short of the WHO recommended universal coverage of 80 per cent.
Some factors that hinder the majority of working women from practising optimal breastfeeding include complacency, widespread use of breast milk substitutes and inadequate workplace policies and environment.
The correlation between employment and breastfeeding cannot be overlooked. Whereas breastfeeding plays a key role in women’s career choices, employment poses significant challenges when trying to create a balance between employment and caring for infants.
According to the World Bank report of 2016, women make up 47 per cent of the total labour workforce, most of them in their reproductive age. This is why we need to support breastfeeding to ensure they participate on an equal footing in employment.
Inadequate support for breastfeeding at the workplace has resulted in women either not breastfeeding as per the WHO recommendations or expressing their milk in awkward places such as the toilet, car, storerooms, or server rooms. These places are neither private nor hygienic, and the milk could be easily contaminated.
Women, if supported at the workplace, can safely and successfully sustain the WHO recommended breastfeeding schedule by expressing their milk during working hours and have it hygienically stored until the baby’s feeding time.
Employers can contribute to Vision 2030 by creating friendly policies and enabling environment for breastfeeding mothers. They could set up lactation stations at the workplace and give mothers time to either breastfeed or express their breast milk.
This will boost morale and loyalty among women employees, and improve their productivity. Women will not have to take days off to care for sick children and this in turn will reduce health insurance costs.
This will be a good incentive to attract and retain highly skilled women employees, and will result in an overwhelming threefold return on this investment.
According to a recent study by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, most employers are unaware of the regulation requiring them to provide such an enabling environment as set out in the Health Act 2017, Articles 71 and 72.
The law requires that lactation stations be established in the workplace and adequately furnished with the necessary equipment, including hand-washing facilities, refrigerators or appropriate cooling facilities, electrical outlets for breast pumps, a small table and comfortable seats.
It would help if employers addressed issues humanely rather than wait for a crackdown. Supporting breastfeeding will contribute towards attaining Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, among other targets.