Breastfeeding mothers’ law on the way

It will be mandatory for employers to set up rooms for working mothers to either breastfeed or express milk for their babies if a proposed law sails through Parliament.

The Breastfeeding Mothers Bill 2024 sponsored by nominated MP Sabina Chege seeks to provide a legal framework for mothers who wish to breastfeed their children or express milk for their infants when at work places.

Any employer who does not comply with the said requirements will be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh1 million or imprisonment not exceeding one year.

 Reads the Bill: “The bill provides for the fundamental principles and rights at work for breastfeeding mothers. It provides for the right to freely breastfeed or express milk for the baby. It also places an obligation on the employers to provide breastfeeding working mothers with rooms to either breastfeed or express their milk. It also provides for the standards of such rooms.”

 The Bill which was introduced in parliament before it went on the long recess, seeks to ensure that an employer provides a physical environment that is safe for the baby, meets the requirement under the relevant laws and one that provides appropriate programs that develop a baby’s cognitive, emotional, social and language abilities.

 The lactation place, the Bill says should be shielded from view and be free from intrusion of co-workers, should be clean, quiet, private and warm, should not be a bathroom or toilet, should have a lockable or, have a wash basin, have a fridge for storing expressed milk, have a provision for electric outlet and lighting as well as have a chair, table and a clean space to store equipment

 The bill also seeks to prohibit any form of discrimination against a woman on any ground including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or any other maternity-related condition whenever they are accessing employment opportunities or benefits.

 Adds the Bill: “The bill further provides for baby changing tables. This is important because the greater majority (Public) finds it unsanitary to change a baby in a public setting such as a restaurant. This provision will also cater for persons who are travelling long distances in the accompaniment of babies, ensuring that in each public restroom a baby changing facility is provided.”

  Chege argued that Kenya being a signatory to treaties that provide for the right of an infant to exclusive breastfeeding for six months, the government should promote and encourage breastfeeding by providing the specific measures that would present opportunities for working mothers to continue expressing their milk and breastfeeding their infant or young child.

Foreign exchange

She emphasized on the need for breastfeeding on grounds that this may save the country’s valuable foreign exchange that may otherwise be used for milk importation.

 She regretted that presently, female workers are forced to exit the work force or stop breastfeeding to secure their job security.

 Said Chege: “Breastfeeding is the first preventative health measure that can be given to a child at birth and it also enhances mother-infant relationship. It is nature’s first immunization, enabling the infant to fight potential serious infection and it contains growth factors that enhance the maturation of an infant’s organ systems.”

Added: “No woman should be forced to compromise the health of her child in order to make a living. “

 The bill also seeks to ensure that individuals who own, lease or rent a public or private building accessible to the public and which has a minimum occupancy of 50 persons must install a baby changing facility which should be clean and private, have a baby changing table, have a waste bucket and have signs indicating its location.

 It also seeks to allow mothers to breastfeed in public and this should not be construed to amount to an indecent act.

 “A person who is accompanied by a baby in public may use any baby changing facility within reasonable distance for the purposes of cleaning and changing the baby,” says the proposed law.

 To allow mothers to breastfeed, the employers will be required to provide a reasonable break time to a breastfeeding mom to either breastfeed or express milk for their child.

 Where circumstances require a baby to be breastfed for a long period exceeding the time prescribed, the mother may with the written instructions from a registered medical practitioner breastfeed the baby for a longer period.  The breastfeeding mother, the bill says, will also be required to apply for a flexible working arrangement for purposes of breastfeeding or expressing milk.

 The flexible working arrangement given by the employer shall provide the number of hours the employee is to work, the type and number of work assignments and the exact location of where the employee is to work.