Navi Mumbai: Online Community Pushes For Lactation Rooms In Workplaces Amidst World Breastfeeding Week

Navi Mumbai: In the ongoing World Breastfeeding Week, the online community known for its selfless support and guidance to Indian mothers during their breastfeeding journey, have revived their fight for having a safe space for the mothers to express the milk.

After many members of the community had expressed their woes at the workplace on joining after the maternity leave, the community had been voicing out their views mentioning how it is very important for a mother to have a space in the workplace to express the milk. Many a time, the only solution given to the mother is to express the milk sitting in the toilet which is gross and unhealthy for both the child and the mother.

About Breastfeeding Support For Indian Mothers

Breastfeeding Support for Indian Mothers (BSIM) was started by Adhunika Prakash, a mother of two, in 2013. The Facebook group has now become her passion of her which has helped her achieve #WebWonderWomen award from the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Outlook Poshan Award from the hands of the Vice President of India, in 2019.

A Kannadiga by birth and married to a Maharashtrian, Prakash had first started reading about breastfeeding when she was expecting her first child in 2012 and was really surprised to know there were so many benefits which was not a common knowledge. Hence, she started sending emails with fascinating facts about breastfeeding to her friends which eventually gave birth to a Facebook community that targeted Pune moms eventually growing into a larger space for Indian mothers.

BSIM today has over 1.50 lakh mothers who are guided by peer counsellors, moderators, and admins with breastfeeding queries 24X7 for no monetary benefit. One of the most common challenge the working mothers in this group face are of expressing the milk for their babies, once they join back work.

One Of The Members Of BSIM Tells About Her Experience

One of the members of BSIM, Jincy Varghese, a 37-year-old engineer from Mumbai too had faced a similar situation in the year 2017 when she joined back work post her maternity leave. “When I asked for a place to express milk, the HR asked me to do it in the toilet. I was grossed by the suggestion and then I approached the admin and fortunately one of the female admins offered me the sick room for the same. The sick room was made available for me whenever I wanted to express. Both, HR and the admin, were women but the difference was that the HR was not a mother and the admin was,” she said, not wanting to be named, adding, “Even though I had a better option than a toilet, it would have been great if they had an exclusive room for the mothers. The sick room is also under the risk of contamination.”

Another Person Shares Her Experience

A similar issue was faced by 38-year-old Shruti (full name withheld on request), an engineer with a multinational information technology services and consulting company who delivered her twins and joined back work in the year 2016.

“When I first reached out to my business unit's HR, they were completely clueless and advised to feed formula milk to the baby. I was not convinced, and my babies were not used to consuming formula milk. My manager was also confused, clueless, and awkward when discussing this matter further. After a lot of struggle, I reached out to another set of HR in the company who handled diversity initiatives. They converted one of the meeting rooms into a pumping room.”

She further added, “Over the time, I saw many women using the same meeting room to pump. If two women needed to pump simultaneously, it was not feasible. Pumping requires a lot of consistency and routine to maintain the mother's supply. An organization needs to have facilities or pumping booths to accommodate postpartum mothers' needs. HR can easily access data on women on maternity leave or pregnant women in the organization and plan the number of pumping stations needed. These typically require a clean, hygienic space with an electric outlet, comfortable seating, and a conducive ambiance. I have since left this organization because my project was not accommodating of my need to take pumping breaks, and I was eventually placed on the bench without a project. Years later, I became a lactation enabler and conducted sessions on the importance of breastfeeding in the same organization. However, India as a whole still has a long way to go in enabling women to return to the workforce post-maternity break.”

“It’s the year 2024 and women still have to deal with the dilemma of pumping and feeding in a toilet! A law is needed to protect our newborn babies and new mothers. We should be providing spaces that are supportive of breastfeeding mothers as an investment in the better health of the nation,” Praskash said.

Prakash started an online petition in the year 2019 demanding, ‘Provide a room for breastfeeding women to express breast milk at their workplace.’ The online petition which requires 35,000 signatures is short of 2,000 votes to reach the ministry. This World Breastfeeding Week, the community is again reviving their petition and has been appealing to people to support the cause for the new mothers and babies.

Founder and CEO of BSIM and author of a bestselling book on breastfeeding - Breast Potion. Prakash is an internationally acclaimed Social Entrepreneur who was selected as one of the top 5 residents from 6000+ applicants from all over the world for the Facebook Community Leadership Program. “Every new mother needs a good support system. And giving her a space to express milk for her baby is the least the system can do for her,” she added.