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{
    "id": 744906,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/744906/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 429,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this very important Bill. As you know, maternity leave that mothers get is only 90 days. Indeed, that is a very short time given that we are advocating for longer periods of breastfeeding, that is, 60 months in the minimum. This Bill tries to cure a very important anomaly that we have today. Mothers are now required to breastfeed their children early enough so that they can go out there to engage in the rigors of work in order to earn a living. That is why the thought by Hon. Sabina Chege, to have employers provide a conducive environment for breastfeeding, must be lauded. Advantages of breastfeeding abound. Above all, children who are breastfed adequately grow up as healthier children. Breastfeeding keeps diseases away from children, hence reducing the country’s budget on health care. It is no brainer that a child that breastfeeds for six months is healthier than a child that breastfeeds for only two months. We have seen, and this goes to my sisters, our mothers and wives who are still giving birth, that breastfeeding does not make you ugly; breastfeeding does not make you less smart; breastfeeding makes you a better mother, a caring mother and makes your child healthier. So, those who stop breastfeeding early by choice - some of them by the first or second month, is not good. They do what this Bill calls expressing. I do not know what it means because it is not very well defined, in my opinion. If you asked our mothers about expressing, it is a modern way of doing things, yes. But it is a lazier way of doing things and one of the things that this Bill seeks to secure. Breastfeeding by letting your child suckle is the best way to make the child grow healthier. It comes with so many advantages, including delaying ovulation. It is scientifically proven that breastfeeding delays ovulation. So, it helps you delay unwanted pregnancy for about three or four months after the child has been born. It makes the child have stronger bones. It has reduced child mortality rate in the country. Therefore, to some extent, this Bill will encourage breastfeeding and it will also encourage fathers to ensure that they participate in making breastfeeding easier, comfortable and fashionable for women. It is good. I agree with Hon. Tong’i that there are aspects of this Bill that could make it a still-born. If you say that an employer will provide an adequate number of trained staff on breastfeeding, if you are saying that an employer will provide nutritionally balanced meals and snacks daily, that cannot be the job of the employer. Food and water should be provided for by the mother. So, I The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}