Saturday 13 August 2011

Lagos NAWOJ advocates 6 months maternity leave for working mothers

The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Lagos chapter, on Friday advocated a six-month maternity leave for working mothers, to breastfeed their babies exclusively.
The Chairman, Mrs Dupe Olaoye-Oshinkolu, made this known in Lagos at the ‘Walk For Health’ organised by the association to create awareness on the importance of breastfeeding.
``Government should  extend maternity leave of working mothers from three months to six months to give mothers  enough time to breastfeed their children exclusively,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 60 members of the association, who engaged in the walk, took off from Ikeja and ended at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa.
The walk with theme “A Breast Fed Baby, A Best fed Baby” involved distribution of fliers educating people on the importance of breastfeeding.
Olaoye-Oshinkolu also advised that crèches be provided in private and public organisations to make it easy for mothers to both breastfeed and be productive in the workplace.
``We urge the government to provide crèches in the workplace and extend maternity leave to six months to reduce infant mortality caused, sometimes, by lack of adequate breastfeeding,” she said.
Mrs Oluwatoyin Adams, Chief Nutrition Officer, Lagos State Ministry of Health, said that breastfeeding was needed for a child survival, proper growth and brain development.
She said that reports indicated that with breastfeeding, an estimate of 1.5 million babies would be saved from infant mortality in the world.
According to Adams, babies breast fed exclusively for the first six months have  high intelligence quotient of seven to 10 scores, better eye sight and smooth skin than those not breastfed.
``A breast fed baby is generally healthier and more intelligent than a baby who is not breastfed,” she claimed. (NAN)

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