Breastfeeding is an issue that people hear about. The one question that comes to mind is whether or not to allow women to breastfeed in public. I feel that breastfeeding in general is important because babies need the proper nutrition in order to grow up strong. It also helps a mother and a child bond. This topic is meaningful to me because I remember taking a bus one time and a young mother was asked to get off at the next stop because she was feeding her baby in public. The bus only had two passengers (the mother and I). The mother was sitting in the back of the bus minding her own business. I was mad that the driver had asked her to do so because I felt it was violating the mother's rights. Needless to say the mother had refused to get off the bus and waited until the police came. She was escourted off the bus.
The country I had chose was Kenya. Prior to the United States in conjunction with the Catholic Relief Services the women in Kenya did not have a mother-to-mother support group where women can get together and discuss issues about their children. The purpose of this group was to create awarenes of the practice of breastfeeding and enhancing nutrition across the villages.
I feel that this will impact my future work because it is important for babies to get the proper nutrition and also to have a strong bond with their mother. I also feel that having a support group is helpful because it is great to learn from each other.
That story you told about the lady getting escorted off the bus for breastfeeding was crazy. It just sounds ignorant. It is evident that the bus driver and the police were clueless to the importance of breastfeeding. I also wrote on breastfeeding on my blog. HIV infected moms in Zimbabwe are encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first 6 months because of how it helps to protect the baby from other infectious diseases, along with lowering chances of being infected with the HIV virus. Breastfeeding in public is not a big deal. The bus driver could have just asked her to cover up if she wasn't already.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the information about breastfeeding in Zimbabwe. I am surprised that mothers with HIV would be allowed to breastfeed because I would think that the HIV disease would be passed on to the baby. The mother was covered up which is why I think the bus driver was in the wrong.
ReplyDeleteHow very ignorant of the bus driver and the police officer! The bus driver should have spent more time watching the road instead of his mirrors!
ReplyDeleteIt is great that there were support groups created for the women in Kenya.It is important for women to talk with each other and to get the support they need.