NONE of Limerick’s major shopping centres provide specific facilities for breastfeeding mothers, despite several campaigns encouraging women to breastfeed and research by a senior consultant showing mothers in the Mid West are way behind in choosing breastfeeding.
During the recent National breastfeeding week, Limerick Consultant neonatologist, Professor Roy K Philip said that “in the Mid West, 61.4per cent of live births in 2020 initiated breastfeeding. The rate in Scandinavian countries is consistently over 90 per cent”.
“I’m not saying we can immediately be like Scandinavia. But achieving that rate should be our mission,” he said.
But for women trying to breastfeed, a Limerick Post survey of five shopping centres in the city and outskirts has revealed that none have any dedicated breast-feeding facilities.
Some pointed to baby-changing facilities which could be used for feeding but most of these were in public toilets and those in separate rooms could only cater for one mother and baby at a time, meaning a feeding mother would have to lock other parents who need to change a baby out of that facility.
The Crescent Shopping centre is “looking into,” a dedicated facility, a person on the information desk said.
Babs Gardener, a former breastfeeding counsellor with the Charity Cuidiu, ran breast-feeding support groups in Limerick for eight years before Covid and agrees that that facilities in commercial spaces which would allow mothers the time and privacy to feed their babies are almost non-existent.
“When they were in the Crescent, Mothercare had a wonderful facility and Brown Thomas has a room which is small but at least they have one,” she told the Limerick Post.
“A few years ago, there was a huge drive to get businesses to establish breast feeding friendly policies and facilities and everyone came back as being hugely in favour of it. But it all seems to have come to nothing.”
Aine Laffan, a breastfeeding counsellor with Cuidiu has just started a new support group for breastfeeding women on Wednesdays at 10am in Kilmurray Arts Heritage Centre.
“The group is open to everyone. On our first day last week, we had ten mothers and babies. It just shows how much support is needed,” she told the Limerick Post.
Following publication of his research in the peer-reviewed academic journal Maternal and Child Nutrition, Prof Philip spoke of his research into 20 years of birth data from University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL).
Prof Philip’s research found issues driving mothers away from breastfeeding include the negative social perception and acceptance and the fear of personnel embarrassment.
The Green Party brought brought a motion to the Seanad last week calling for improved education on breastfeeding along with advertising restrictions and other supports, including incentivising hospital staff to train in the area.
Limerick Green Councillor, Saša Novak said that hospital and official community supports for mothers who want to breastfeed are not given the priority they deserve and during Covid, staff trained in breastfeeding support were deployed to pandemic duties.
“Access to information and supports around breastfeeding has been a huge problem. While I myself have had some great individual support from the two Margarets in Limerick Maternity Hospital when they were available, they were much too often deployed to other areas and mothers who needed help with breastfeeding were left with no assistance or encouragement from professionals.
“It is extremely disappointing that access to qualified lactation consultants too often depends on a postcode lottery or the ability to pay. We need to see uniformity of access to appropriate breastfeeding supports in every maternity and general hospital and in every Community Health Organisation across the country, regardless of geography or socio-economic status.
“There is currently no incentive for staff to become lactation consultants and no recognition or financial rewards for extra qualifications. We need to see improved education for everyone who works in the medical industry and those currently training in relevant third level courses, so that at every touchpoint, a woman can receive proper advice in relation to breastfeeding.”
