Members of the Bahamas National Breastfeeding Association held an Umbrella-Thon on the streets of Pinewood as part of the commemoration of Breastfeeding Week.
President of the Association, Trineka Hall, is calling for more support for breastfeeding mothers. She said, “we need more support with breastfeeding. We need our employers to support our mothers who are breastfeeding, who are working women. That is our plight and we need to continue the fight with breastfeeding and get our policy established and get The Bahamas baby friendly.”
One of the organization’s past presidents, Carlotta Klass, also attended the event and told ZNS News, “if we want to prevent diseases or reduce diseases happening in our children, our children most live long lives. And I want us all, the community, the husbands, the father, the mothers, the grandmothers, the community at large to support breastfeeding. It is the way for us to go in the future.”
The Bahamas National Breastfeeding Association has been working since 1993 to bring awareness and education to the health benefits of breastfeeding. Vice President, Ampusam Symonette says, “we have climate change, all the industrialization, your deforestation that is a result of setting up industries to make cow’s milk. We don’t need that, mother is a supplier and consumer is right there. She went on to say, “this year we are trying to ask employers to look at what is it that we need to do, have places for them to breastfeed.”