World Breastfeeding Week: No respite for lactating moms

Thiruvananthapuram: As part of observing the World Breastfeeding Week from August 1 to August 7, a mass walk will be taken out on Friday morning. The irony is that the corporation, from the gate of which the walk will be flagged off by health minister K K Shailaja, does not have a feeding room. Neither do most public spaces in Thiruvananthapuram.

There are plans to construct a feeding room at the corporation, according to deputy mayor Rakhi Ravikumar. “We will be proposing that the 70th anniversary building should have a day-care and a feeding room, as it would help many women. The proposal needs to be approved at the Development Seminar, and later the District Planning Committee,” she says.

Thampanoor bus stand, where women would wait for hours for their bus, does not have a waiting room for women, never mind feeding rooms. The railway station next door is better in this regard. It has a ladies’ waiting room, but no designated space for breastfeeding. Senior Division Commercial Manager V C Sudheesh says, “Feeding rooms are listed as one of the desirable features which may be added. At the Ernakulam station, now, there is a lactating area. We will be creating an enclosure in the ladies’ waiting hall in Thampanoor for breastfeeding.” He added that if there was a demand, the Railways would set up feeding rooms even in small stations.

The Secretariat is perhaps the only government office in the city with a ladies’ restroom. Complete with a couple of beds, chairs, a prayer room and a changing room, the room offers a hygienic environment for breastfeeding mothers. In addition, there is a crèche at the Secretariat’s Annexe building, run by a welfare society for the Secretariat’s women employees.