Feeding the baby with milk from his mother is an undeniable right, whether the baby is breastfed from his own breast as if they are separated, and it is expressed to be given later.
That is why what happened to a mother from Alicante is outrageous, who has denounced in a Facebook post that she was forbidden to bring her breast milk to the nursery to give it to her four-month-old baby .
He denounces the “frustration and indignation” that causes him to be prevented from passing his milk, for which he received many supportive comments on social networks. Actress Sara Sálamo also sympathized with her and shared her post with the comment “we have little problems to solve, eh”, making her complaint go viral.
“Outside food”
Prior to making it public on the networks, the mother made a complaint to the Board of Nursery Schools, the body that manages the two nursery schools dependent on the City Council, hoping that her problem would be solved, since exclusive breastfeeding up to six months does not it is a whim, but what the World Health Organization itself recommends.
But his great surprise was the response he received. They replied that it is not allowed to bring food from outside and maintains that “breast milk is in the group of food from outside.”
The newspaper Información contacted those responsible who clarified that mothers were allowed to enter the center to breastfeed their child, but that bottles or antibiotics are not allowed in school refrigerators to ensure hygiene and safety of the kids.
As the mother works, she has to leave her baby in nursery school for several hours and precisely because of this, she cannot come to the center at certain times to breastfeed herself.
The solution: refrigerators to preserve breast milk
For his part, the mayor of Alicante Luis Barcala found out about the incident, spoke about it in a Facebook post (the one you see below) and gave instructions to solve it immediately. Indeed, with a speed to which we are not accustomed, an emergency decree was signed to facilitate breastfeeding in nurseries.
In less than 24 hours, the two nursery schools were enabled to have a refrigerator in their facilities, so that mothers who wish to continue giving their milk to their babies, can keep it in the necessary conditions.
How do you want a mother to continue breastfeeding if everything is turned against her?
In Spain, 80 percent of mothers decide to breastfeed when their baby is born . But one in three stops doing it after three months for social and work reasons and the majority (58%) do so after six months due to the difficulty of continuing with the process on returning to work.
Many mothers end up giving up breastfeeding when maternity leave ends. That is why a longer six-month maternity leave has been called for in order to comply with what is recommended by the WHO. And not only for that: it is the minimum necessary time of knowledge for the mother and the baby, whether it is breast or bottle.
But how can they not quit? If in addition to the obstacles that are put in many jobs (I do not say all, because there are great places) and things like this that has happened to the mother of Alicante, is to fight against windmills. It is not only the will of the mother, society also has to support breastfeeding, be a support network for mothers who want to do it.
In Babies and more | How to express and store breast milk
