Highlighting Importance of Protecting Breastfeeding during Breastfeeding Week 2022

Since 2012, all public hospitals across the country have been certified as “Baby Friendly” hospitals where mothers can breastfeed comfortably without discrimination. But, this is not always the case in the workplace outside of the hospitals where the Ministry of Health and Wellness is encouraging more employers to protect breastfeeding. According to Jihane Habet, a registered dietitian and nutritionist employed with the Ministry of Health, employers should grant breastfeeding mothers at least half an hour to an hour everyday for the first six months to express breast milk or to breastfeed. We spoke with Habet via Zoom on the occasion of International Breastfeeding Week.

Jihane Habet

Jihane Habet, Dietitian/Nutritionist, Ministry of Health and Wellness

“As a registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, I am here to encourage all mothers, to encourage them to prepare to breastfeed. We do give education while pregnant or during lactation, whether they need assistance in terms of how to breastfeed. Some mothers do have issues breastfeeding. We are here to help. Across the nation there are so many educators, breastfeeding educators, our M.C.H. at the hospitals, HECOPAB, also nutritionists, we are all here; everyone is here to provide assistance, education. We encourage breastfeeding not just for you as the mom, but for the babies, for their health, not just now, but in the future. We also encourage employers and those at the work place to accept breastfeeding and to provide a healthy and comfortable place for these moms. It is actually encouraged by the WHO that mothers are allowed thirty minutes to an hour break in the workplace to be able to go home and breastfeed and things like that we need to accept and we need to make it know to the public that breastfeeding is important. It is not taboo. It is not something that should be hidden. It is health, a right of the mother and a right of the child.”