The Breastfeeding Mothers Bill, 2024 sponsored by nominated Member of Parliament Sabina Chege seeks to provide new mothers with the right to breastfeed their infants freely.
The principal object of this Bill is to provide a legal framework for mothers who may wish to breastfeed their children at the workplace.
“Kenya is a signatory to treaties that provide for the right of an infant to exclusive breastfeeding for six months,” read part of the proposed Bill.
“The government should therefore promote and encourage breastfeeding and provide the specific measures that would present opportunities for working mothers to continue expressing or breastfeeding their infants or young child.”
About the Proposed Breastfeeding Mothers Bill
If passed, the Bill will see employers compelled to provide breastfeeding employees with lactation rooms that are to either breastfeed or express their milk for their children.
Furthermore, the Bill stipulates that the lactation rooms should be clean, quiet, and free from intrusion of other co-workers with the rooms also having washing facilities as well as baby changing tables.
The provision further dictates that the said lactation rooms must be different from bathrooms or toilets.
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It further provides for offices, public restaurants, and public bathrooms to have facilities that can be used by mothers to provide their children with the same care especially for persons who are travelling long distances in the accompaniment of babies.
“Breastfeeding is the first preventive health measure that can be given to a child at birth while at the same time enhancing mother-infant relationship,” the Bill further read.
“It is nature’s first immunization, enabling the infant to fight potential serious infection and also contains growth factors that enhance the maturation of an infant organ systems.”
Current Situation on Breastfeeding Mothers
Presently, new mothers are forced to seclude themselves from public spaces and the work environment to provide their infants with the much-needed care, thus curtailing their ability to move around freely as well as their rights to earn a living.
Also, some female employees are forced to stop breastfeeding in order to secure their job security.
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The proposed Legislation also seeks to protect employees from discrimination on any grounds relating to pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or any other maternity related condition, in accessing employment opportunities or benefits.
The Breastfeeding Mothers Bill further suggests that the practice of breastfeeding may save the country’s valuable foreign exchange that may otherwise be used for milk importation.
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