Mandaue dad eyes lactation stations for working moms

A Mandaue City councilor proposed an ordinance requiring business establishments to put up lactation stations for breastfeeding mothers, especially those who are working.

Councilor Editha Cabahug said she will meet the president of Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry to ask for his help in setting up lactation facilities in private companies.

The budget for the lactation stations will be taken from the Gender and Development fund once the ordinance is approved.

With the presence of lactation station, mothers can either breastfeed their babies at the facility without being seen by their co-workers or just extract milk and let their nannies bring the milk to home.

Cabahug said lactation stations in government centers will be open to the public. Each station will be manned by a nurse.

She said the department offices be divided into clusters and each cluster will have a lactation station depending on the budget.

The ordinance was approved on first reading last Wednesday. It states that the City of Mandaue shall promote and encourage breastfeeding and provide specific measures that would allow mothers to continue to breastfeed their infants.

The lactation station, as described in the ordinance, must be located in a private and clean area, furnished with comfortable seats and equipped with a lavatory for hand-washing and a refrigerator for storing extracted milk.

The mother-employee will be given a 40-minute break from their work to breastfeed their baby.

No advertisement of formulated milk is allowed inside the breastfeeding station.

The lactation stations will be constructed six months after the approval of the ordinance.

Some establishments will also be exempted from having lactations stations if the number of female employees with infants is less than 10.

Establishments that fail to comply with the ordinance will be punished.