With the presence of different representatives of the university community and health authorities, the Triestamental Breastfeeding Room was inaugurated, located in the offices of the Student Development Directorate of the Bío-Bío University, Fernando May campus.
The initiative, coordinated by the Chillán Headquarters Student Health Department, consists of a comfortable space that has the capacity to receive four mothers and their children, who will be able to occupy it from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., both to breastfeed and to extract milk. One of the most important aspects of the milestone is that the room can be used by students, civil servants and academics.
The head of the Student Health Department, Aurora Henríquez Melgarejo, recalled that the initiative responds to “a dream that was in the work team before I arrived, that of having a breastfeeding space for working mothers who have children, students and academics, since this is a triestamental room. The space will fulfill the objective that, if a mother needs to breastfeed her child for any reason, they can come to carry out this process in a calm place that is prepared and welcoming for this activity ”.
The facilities meet the requirements given by the Ministry of Health for what a lactation room is, “and for that the indications that come in the clinical standards were taken. It has to do with an issue of dimensions, but also with aspects related to mothers having a space where they can wash their hands, a certain circulation space, a place where they can be and that is private,” explained Aurora Henríquez, who highlighted the work of the DDE team.
For his part, the head of the Department of Public Health and seremi (surrogate) of the Seremi de Salud Ñuble, Gonzalo Toledo Gutiérrez, highlighted and appreciated the initiative. “These spaces will always be beneficial for the family and the world of work, but mainly for the mother because society is already more complex for women themselves. So, it is the responsibility of everyone, of society, of the participating entities, in this case of the University, to generate these actions and opportunities so that the most natural thing that is breastfeeding can be developed ”, he added.
Gonzalo Toledo revealed that “everything that is lactation rooms, lactation rooms, and everything that helps to promote breastfeeding, is a tremendous impact and helps, both for people and for the formation of the bond between the mother/double son”.
