Image: BuzzFeed
You’d have heard of UNICEF’s ‘Say Yes to Breastfeeding’
campaign, initiated in tandem with the Food and Health Bureau and the
Department of Health to promote breastfeeding-friendly workplaces and public
places. The pledge to support breastfeeding in public places was supported by 64
restaurants citywide, including 20 McDonald’s branches. Likewise, you should be
no stranger to the Department of Health’s promotion and support of
breastfeeding by launching a document called ‘Breastfeeding Policy of the
Department of Health’ last year, also promising to train staff at health
centres and hospitals to respond accordingly. You might have been among those
who applauded and cried tears of joy: it’s finally happening in Hong Kong!
But nope. According to SCMP,
mother of two and teacher at an ESF school, Amanda O’Halloran was blasted by
three nurses for breastfeeding and therefore upsetting other patients, while she
was sitting in a waiting room at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. What O’Halloran
encountered was by no means a singular incident, as hours after she posted
about it online, she saw a deluge of angry messages in support of her, from
mothers who have had similar frustrating experiences while breastfeeding in
public.
To be fair, the stubborn refusal to accept breastfeeding as
just the most natural way to feed a hungry baby is pretty universal. What
boggles the mind is, how hard is it for people to see breastfeeding as just
that? If we were all fed with our mothers’ breastmilk for various lengths of
time after our birth, who are we to stop others from getting fed by the same
means?
If you’re nodding in agreement, sign the pledge here and lend your support
to UNICEF’s #SayYesToBreastfeeding campaign.
