Empowering Lactating Mothers Working in Informal Settlements

Today, Friday the 27th of October 2023, marked the second day of the 6th annual conference on the status of African women. The conference was part of the ongoing research week held by the University of Nairobi. The theme of this conference which was held virtually via zoom, was harnessing women’s knowledge, experiences and contributions towards sustainable development goals.

One of the research papers shared in the conference was on strengthening Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) practices among working mothers in the informal settlement focusing on Kangemi, a slum located in the outskirts of Nairobi. The paper was presented by Dr. Jeniffer Birech, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi and Ms. Jane Mbuthia who was also with the University of Nairobi.

The research topic discussed the challenges lactating mothers are dealing with concerning exclusive breastfeeding in informal settlements such as food stores(vibandas) and salons. “Women in the informal settlements have unique challenges when it comes to breastfeeding their children exclusively given the nature of the work,” said Dr. Birech as she introduced the paper. “Women working in informal settlements carry their children to work and sometimes do not have time to breastfeed them” she added. Dr. Birech concluded by pointing out that Kenya has made progress due to creation of awareness on EBF, “we can say that there is a lot of progress but there is still work to be done.”

Moreover, as Ms. Jane Mbuthia explained, the lactating child's health is jeopardized due to breastfeeding in an unconducive working environment. “Infants are exposed to noise, smoke and chemicals”, remarked Ms. Mbuthia. She also mentioned the issue of mothers not breastfeeding their infants to term. “Most mothers would only breastfeed for three months and then find other supplements in order to leave the baby behind and continue working.”

Mrs. Pamela Ngesa, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, also joined the discussion and pointed out that infants need to lactate to develop better. “I think medical practitioners have come to the conclusion that children develop better when they exclusively breastfeed, especially for the first six months”, said Mrs. Ngesa. She also noted that mothers do not eat well when breastfeeding, “How do you breastfeed exclusively when you yourself have not had enough to eat, breastfeeding requires that the mother is well fed.”  She ended by encouraging that solutions be generated to counter this issue.

The discussion on lactating mothers concluded with Dr. Jeniffer Birech urging government and policy makers to support lactating mothers working in informal settlements in dealing with these challenges. “The stakeholders and the government should be able to develop policies that safeguard mothers working in the informal economy in terms of making sure they get paid maternity leave and provide conducive work environments to allow breastfeeding at work”, she said.