Durban - When maternity leave ends, many mothers think they have no choice but to stop breast-feeding and return to work.
In a bid to reduce child mortality rates and raise a healthy nation, the South African Breastmilk Reserve (SABR) urges mothers to stand up for their legal rights as employees and continue to provide the most healthy option for their baby by breast-feeding.
Chantel Cronje, legal adviser at Legal and Tax Services, said, “Mothers are not aware they are legally entitled to have breast-feeding breaks. According to the Code of Good Practice on protection of employees during pregnancy and after birth of a child, it’s your right to breast-feed or express milk at your workplace until your baby is six months old.”
Breastfeeding activist and executive director at SABR, Stasha Jordan, raised concerns about the low number of mothers who choose to breastfeed. “It worries us that only 7.2 percent of South African mothers breastfeed their babies. This statistic only worsens when mothers return to work.
“Unfortunately many think that formula feeding is easier, but nutritionally it doesn’t compare to breast milk. The very best thing a mother can do for her child is to breast-feed exclusively for the first six months.”
Breast milk contains all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals babies need. “It makes sense both medically and financially. If mothers know their rights and are empowered to apply them, we can raise a healthier nation,” Jordan said.
The Code of Good Practice forms part of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997. Cronje explained how the law provides for breast-feeding breaks: “As a mother you are entitled to two breast-feeding or expressing breaks a day. Each 30 minute break cannot coincide with your lunch break and must be considered as paid time.”
Jordan said expressing milk during work hours is vital to ensure a mother’s milk supply does not diminish. It could provide the bottled breast milk needed for a carer to feed a baby the following day.
“The first prize is for employers to provide a nursing facility so new mothers can breast-feed their babies at work, but at the very least employers should have a fridge for expressed breast milk storage,” Jordan said.
Cronje urged pregnant mothers to notify their employers well in advance of their intention to breast-feed or express milk at work so that a clean, private area with access to water can be arranged – as required by law.
“An employee cannot be dismissed for demanding a breast-feeding break or for any reasons related to pregnancy.”
If any legal rights are withheld, Cronje recommended the employee submit a written complaint within the first 30 days and approach her union, bargaining council or a lawyer.
“If the matter is not resolved it can be sent to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) or any other regulating body concerned.”
Jordan urged employers to encourage breast-feeding at work.
“If mothers are breast-feeding or expressing milk at work their babies are less likely to get sick. This means less absenteeism and increased productivity and morale as employees know their rights are respected.
“Breastfeeding breaks at work should be completely normal and acceptable. It takes one brave employee at a time to change the status quo and empower other new working mothers to put their babies’ health first.”
Mothers who continue breast-feeding while returning to work can also play a vital role in saving other babies’ lives. Jordan encouraged mothers to donate extra breast milk to SABR banks, located at hospitals across the country. SABR redistributes donated breast milk to babies in neonatal intensive care that are too weak to breastfeed.
Breastfed children have at least a six times greater chance of survival in the early months than non-breast-fed children and an exclusively breastfed child is 14 times less likely to die in the first six months than a non-breast-fed child.
Last year SABR was able to feed 1 689 babies with donated breast milk.
To help alleviate the challenges faced by the SABR, including low breast-feeding rates, sourcing donor mothers and funding for the operation of the milk banks, see www.sabr.org.za, call 011 482 1920 or e-mail: [email protected].
Daily News