Bauchi State women proposes daycare centres in workplaces

Some career women in Bauchi State, on Thursday, urged the state government to set up creches in workplaces to improve child health status and boost productivity. Creches are child care centres where nannies take care of children in the daytime to enable their parents to work effectively.

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Hajiya Adama Mohammed, a lactating mother, made the call during a media field trip, organised by the UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, in Azare, Katagum Local Government Area of the state.

She said that the creches if established, would enable lactating working mothers to have privacy, feel free to breastfeed their babies and boost productivity.

Mohammed, who is also a nurse at Nasarawa “B” Primary Healthcare Centre, Azare, said that the establishment of care centres in hospitals would enhance quality service delivery.

She also advocated for the extension of the three-month maternity leave period to six months.

This, she said, would availed working breastfeeding mothers the opportunity to have enough time to rest and breastfeed their babies.

The health worker said that the six months of maternity leave would ease the burden of shuttling from their place of work to home to breastfeed their babies.

“Because of its health benefits, all my six children are exclusively breastfed and didn’t take water till after six months. I make sure I feed my baby well before going to work so it takes him up to an hour before I go back home and feed him again so that nobody will give him water. If there is the provision of creche here, I wouldn’t have to be going back home to breastfeed him during working hours,” she said.

Wumi/NAN