With it being World Breastfeeding Week, local organizations are hoping to raise awareness for breast feeding mothers in the workplace.
The Chatham-Kent Breastfeeding Coalition and the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit are holding a breastfeeding challenge on Friday to bring the issue to the forefront. The challege will take place from 10am-11am at the Downtown Chatham Centre.
Public Health Nurse Karen Nielsen says it can be difficult for mothers who are trying to return to work.
"Half of the workforce is women, and if they want to be able to meet the goals for Health Canada, they need to be supported to go back to work. So, this year's World Breastfeeding Week campaign theme is 'breastfeeding and work -- let's make it work,'" says Nielsen.
In order to meet Health Canada's guidelines, mothers are expected to breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of a baby's life with the addition of nutritious foods and continued breastfeeding for two or more years.
"We shouldn't be sending mothers to washrooms (at work) to either feed their baby or to express their milk, because washrooms are quite dirty," she says.
To be supportive of breastfeeding mothers, Nielsen says employeers need to provide three key elements. These include space in the form of a private, comfortable space to breastfeed; time during the working day to breastfeed; and support from employers as well as colleagues.
