The chairperson of the Necas Network for Entrepreneurial Woman (NNEW), Abuja chapter, Mrs Gertrude Bashorun, has urged employers of labour to provide creche/lactation room for mothers to encourage them achieve six months of exclusive breastfeeding.

Bashorun said this when she led her team on a courtesy visit to the executive director of Glisten International Academy, Hajiya Samira Jibir in Abuja on Thursday.

She said, "This is basically an advocacy visit. We are on a drive to engage with the private sector on maternal practices. There is a project that NNEW at the national level has been working on. It is basically a project on encouraging the entrenchment of family-friendly policies in the private sector. For instance, it is to help employers see the need to have a creche to encourage more mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding for six months.

"Typically, the maternity rule is that women should have three months of maternity leave. So, what happens is that once mothers resume work, they are not able to keep up with exclusive breastfeeding. Hence, the need for organisations to either have a creche in-house or a lactation room so that mothers can come with their babies to work and then take time out to breastfeed them as needed."

Bashorun said NNEW recognised the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the lives of children and in the long run for the society as research has proved that children who are breastfed exclusively for the period of six months have better mental development, and they are not sickly.

In her response, the executive director, Glisten International Academy, Hajiya Samira Jibir, thanked NNEW for the visit and encouraged them to partner with organisations to make the initiative a reality.