HK Employers Urged to Support Working Mothers to Breast Feeding

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 10, 2002

HK Employers Urged to Support Working Mothers to Breast Feeding

Most maternity hospitals in HongKong encourage new mothers to breast feeding, but not all hospitals are sufficiently supportive of doing so at work by theirown employees.

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Most maternity hospitals in HongKong encourage new mothers to breast feeding, but not all hospitals are sufficiently supportive of doing so at work by theirown employees.

"We encourage private employers to allow breaks for employees to express milk and to set aside private areas for this purpose, even if it is for a limited period each day," Yuet Oi Chee, president of Pan-Asian Lactation Consultant Association, told a press conference Tuesday.

Commenting on the latest findings of the survey on support for breast feeding employees released by the association, Chee said that since most working mothers are at work for at least eight hours per day, they need time to express milk at least once duringthis time and employer support is essential.

The survey, which polled each maternity hospital in Hong Kong, showed that 68 percent of hospitals have made a positive start by providing electric breast pumps for lactating employees and most have a lactation consultant available to help with breast feeding problems.

However, the survey also found that only 26 percent of Hong Kong's hospitals have allocated private spaces for staff to breastfeed and 53 percent of hospitals only allowed mothers to pump milkduring meal time. A minority provides no support for mothers to take breaks to pump milk.

Dr. L. Y. Wong, chairman of the staff breast-feeding group at the Hong Kong-based Caritas Medical Center, said, "Breast-feeding in Hong Kong is steadily increasing and we want to further encourage this trend by acting as a role model for other hospitalsand private sector."

Wong said her hospital is taking the lead in supporting breast-feeding employees, and put aside a room with a relaxing setting for employees to pump their milk in privacy. The room is also equipped with comfortable chairs and two breast-pumping machines, she said.

Breast pumps are key to continued breast feeding success for mothers returning to work, Chee commented. However, hospitals can be more proactive with policies that specially allow women to takework breaks to pump and store milk for later consumption by their infants, she added.

Chee said that the survey highlighted the importance of breast-feeding in the community and showed the way for private employers to implement similar policies for breast feeding mothers returningto work.

Outlining his latest research on how working mothers can maximize milk production through regular breast-feeding and the use of breast pump technology, Peter Hartmann, professor from the department of biochemistry at the University of Western Australia,said that breast pumps are very useful, especially for women with smaller storage capacities or those who work, because they can express their milk and continue production even when they are awayfrom their baby.

Hartmann also said that there is a need to improve breast pump comfort and efficiency by isolating the different natural sucking patterns of babies.

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