Mothers are still having a difficult time when they need to feed their babies in public, especially when they are breastfeeding mums.
A Facebook group, the Malaysian Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Association, organised a group breastfeeding event “Breastfeeding Together” at Ipoh today (4 August) in conjunction with World Breastfeeding Week 2019.
According to the organiser, the objective of this event was an initiative to sensitise our community about supporting breastfeeding mothers to achieve at least six months of breastfeeding. The support also emphasises the need to breastfeed babies up to 2 years old. Ultimately, the goal is to build a strong foundation for the younger generation in terms of health and wellbeing.
This special event gathered a total of 18 mothers to breastfeed together on a HOHO bus (hop-on-hop-off bus) from 8am to 10am. The mums were able to enjoy feeding their babies in a supportive environment and also enjoy the wonderful view from the open-top bus.
As reported on Oriental Daily, among the Malaysian women aged between 25 to 34, 73.4% of them are in the workforce; and 66.8% of women aged between 35 to 44 are working. It showed that these women (up to 60%) find it difficult to balance breastfeeding with work requirements.
The Perak government hopes to set a good example by introducing breastfeeding rooms in the government sectors for mums, although the planning is still in progress. They want to inspire the other state governments and private sectors to start putting breastfeeding mothers’ concerns into the forefront.
We feel that this is an awesome initiative because breastfeeding is absolutely normal, and it’s nothing to be judged about. Babies do need to eat, and it’s a known fact that mums are encouraged to breastfeed as it benefits mums and their babies, as well as creating more positive feelings between them.
Also read: A Breastfeeding Muslim Mother Was Denied Service at a Popular Restaurant at 1Utama