I recently watched the trailer for the BGIS promotion of breastfeeding for working mothers (Feeding Naturally). However, as much as I appreciate the BGIS' interest, I do hope they cover the fact that although the new Breastfeeding Policy (promoted by the MoH) addresses a number of deficiencies in the support for breastfeeding, one glaring concern is that there has been no move to allow women and men more time for maternity/ paternity leave to actually increase breastfeeding rates and support for new parents. From a Labour perspective, I gather that the NIS and employers may feel unduly burdened by an extension of maternity leave for 6 months- 1 year but if one also takes into consideration the health and productivity gains by ensuring children have the best access to nutrition to ward off infection and prevent obesity, then if may be a fair compromise. Imagine all of the time not taken off from work to look after sick children and money not spent in our health care system battling CNCDs. I was lucky that my workplace offered an extended maternity leave for 3 more months (albeit unpaid) but this policy is not extended to the vast majority of working parents. You simply cannot promote a 6-month breast is best policy and then not support working families in the venture. It is time that our policy kept up with the reality of working families.

Many thanks for your time,

Tara A. Inniss

PhD (UWI) MSD (UNSW) BA (York)

Department of History and Philosophy

Cave Hill Campus, 

The University of the West Indies

Barbados