Nakuru Hospital Opens Lactation Room to Support New Mothers
A fridge at the lactating room set up at the Nakuru Teaching and referral hospital which will be used for storing expressed milk.
What you need to know:
- The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, as it significantly protects new-borns from infections and reduces mortality.
- Infants who are not exclusively breastfed, or are only partially breastfed, face a higher risk of death due to diarrhoea and other infections.
The Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital has introduced a lactation room to help new mothers balance work and breastfeeding. The space features a comfortable seating, express pumps, a refrigerator, microwave, washing and sterilization areas, a reading area, and a television for relaxation. A nutritionist will also be on standby to offer guidance and counselling to new mothers.
According to Nakuru County Nutrition Coordinator Christine Kihara, breastfeeding is recommended for six months, but many mothers are required to resume work after three months.Ms Kihara highlighted the vital importance of breast milk, emphasizing its rich nutrients and antibodies essential for a baby's health.
She also acknowledged the challenges new mothers face when workplace facilities for breastfeeding are inadequate. The room is intended to ease these difficulties, helping to prevent early weaning caused by a lack of proper breastfeeding support.
During this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, observed annually in the first week of August, the hospital hosted educational sessions to emphasize the benefits of the newly designed breastfeeding room. “Majority of mothers are forced to start weaning their babies early due to lack of lactation and breastfeeding facilities at their workplace,” Ms Kihara said.
She added that the county is working to have lactation rooms opened in all health facilities across the 11 sub-counties.
“Before it was launched, new mothers were forced to wait until the end of their shifts to go and breastfeed their babies,” she noted. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, as it significantly protects new-borns from infections and reduces mortality. Infants who are not exclusively breastfed, or are only partially breastfed, face a higher risk of death due to diarrhoea and other infections.
Despite the WHO's recommendations, fewer than half of infants under 6 months old are exclusively breastfed. According to the WHO, breast milk provides all the energy and nutrients an infant need for the first months of life, continues to meet up to half or more of a child’s nutritional needs during the latter half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life.
