Kent mums 'to be offered better breastfeeding facilities'

Mothers in Kent could be getting more use from their breastfeeding tops when they're out and about after Canterbury councillors unveiled plans to encourage businesses to provide adequate facilities for feeding parents.

The Kentish Gazette reported that the local council has discussed ways to get firms to offer breastfeeding mums proper spaces for them to attend to their baby's needs, or else name them in public as organisations that refuse to change.

Councillor Alex Perkins commented at the Canterbury Area Member Panel meeting: "We should be working out how to solve this problem and naming and shaming those businesses which do not make it easy for us. There are incredible health benefits to breastfeeding. We could have a list on the Canterbury City Council website of where it's good and clean to do it and a list where the companies have not bothered.

"Let's do this as a matter of urgency," the councillor added.

The discussion came after new mum Louise Dancy emailed the council to draw attention to the inadequate facilities provided for breastfeeding mothers at two shops in the city.

One had offered her a broom cupboard in which to feed her infant, and the other only had a dark room with a plastic chair.

The panel voted to "recommend to the executive that the council takes positive action to improve the facilities for nursing mothers in public places", the newspaper stated.

It comes after Leeds campaigned to become England's first breastfeeding-friendly city earlier this year.

Leeds City Council and NHS bodies joined forces to help mums feel more comfortable about feeding their children in public.

Businesses in the city were encouraged to sign up to the drive and receive resource packs containing display materials that could signal to parents that the organisation supports breastfeeding.
 

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