DOH to working moms: Continue breastfeeding

MANILA, Philippines - Working mothers nationwide should continue breastfeeding their babies to reduce the high infant mortality rate in the country, the Department of Health said yesterday.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said even when they are working, mothers can still practice exclusive breastfeeding.

The DOH admitted that the country has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates worldwide despite the passage of the “Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act “ promoting breastfeeding in workplaces.

Data from the country’s National Demographic and Health Survey and the National Nutrition Survey, Garin said, showed a minimal increase in the proportion of infants who have been exclusively breastfed until they are five months old from 22.6 percent in 2008 to 28.3 percent in 2013.

Results of the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey also revealed that five out of 10 women in the workplace who belong to the third to fifth socio-economic quintile will discontinue breastfeeding and thereby affect exclusive breastfeeding practices in the country.

According to Garin, factors like the short duration of maternity leave, non-compliance with lactation breaks and unavailability of lactation stations in workplaces prevent many working mothers from practicing exclusive breastfeeding for six months.

To promote breastfeeding among working women, the DOH hosted a breastfeeding summit with the theme “Tama, Sapat, Eksklusibo ang Pagpapasuso kahit nasa Trabaho (Breastfeeding and Work, Let’s Make it Work).”

Infant and young child feeding practices – which include breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding for six months and complementary feeding with continued and sustained breastfeeding – are known to reduce under-five mortality rates by 20 to 25 percent, Garin said.

DOLE checking workplace lactation stations

For her part, Labor Assistant Secretary Gloria Tango said yesterday the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is exerting all efforts to ensure implementation of the workplace provision of the breastfeeding law.

Tango noted that labor law compliance officers inspect workplaces to check if they have lactation stations and if mothers are given lactation periods and if the company observes lactation policy.

“If ever there is unreasonable  or unjustifiable refusal to set up a lactation station or give a lactation period,  we will be referring the issue to DOH for administrative sanction,” she reported.

In 2014, Tango said, DOLE inspected 65,000 establishments and 96.39 percent of them have been found compliant with the breastfeeding law.