Nursing Needs More Support in Ireland

Just because the law protects a baby’s right to eat in public, doesn’t mean breastfeeding is always tolerated. The Irish Independent recently reported that several mothers and babies have been harassed by employees and bystanders in restaurants and other places.

Even though public breastfeeding in Ireland has been protected since 2000, the health of the nation’s children is still being threatened thanks to intolerance.

• Jan Cromie, of breastfeeding-information association La Leche League of Ireland, told the Independent that complaints in restaurants from customers and even staff had contributed to fewer women breastfeeding.
• “We have been contacted by women who have been accosted in cafes by members of the public or even staff.
• “We are writing to one restaurant at the moment who asked women to stop breastfeeding. When a baby is three weeks old, it needs to be fed 10 to 12 times a day and can’t be told to wait.”
• Intolerance is preventing many mothers from using a method of feeding that has been proved to prevent obesity, heighten intelligence and prevent heart disease in later life, said Ms Fallon. “Because many children are bottle-fed, the level of health among our youngsters isn’t as good as it should be.”

In countries, like Ireland, where childhood and later life obesity are on the rise, entire societies are struggling to deal with the additional emotional and financial costs of diabetes, heart ailments and lifestyle illnesses that result. In another report on the health of Ireland’s children, obesity was thought to be rising at a rate of 10 000% per decade.

Clearly, whole nations have an interest in whether or not a woman breastfeeds her children. It’s time to start giving her the support she needs to do what is best for her child and his or her health. In fact, breastfeeding should be perceived as important on every level. Check out this post on Breastfeeding 1-2-3 to see how good for the soul it is. If I had a million Euro to spend on making the world a better place, I would hang prints of that picture all over Ireland.