February, 2029
Breast Feeding Hits New Highs in Aotearoa/New Zealand
If you've just given birth to a baby in New Zealand, chances are, you'll breast feed your new born until at least the age of one. Thanks to employment legislation set in place in 2015, designed to support mothers to breast feed for as long as possible, new laws designed to protect and encourage breast feeding in public, two decades of promotional marketing, and the formula health scares of 2008, a breast feeding craze has swept the nation.
"I smiled when I walked to lunch today, because I walked past a large group of mothers breastfeeding in a garden area especially created for Mums and babies. Believe it or not I remember a time when people perhaps breastfed for three months and then were forced to leave their babies and return to work," said Minister of Health - Ana Spooner.
Thanks to work-place policy that ensured Mothers could either take a year out on a Government sponsored Parent's Wage, work from home, or take their child to work and utilise the support of in-house parenting support, breastfeeding rates have soared and the health benefits are clearly obvious.
Some benefits of breast feeding for babies include reduced cholesterol levels, reduced blood pressure levels in their teens, lower levels of depression through life, less likelihood of respiratory illness and a general positive influence on mental development.
"We're certainly noticing these health benefits beginning to show up in statistics. New Zealand children and adolescents are among the healthiest in the world. I think this is playing a significant role in New Zealand's new status as one of the five 'happiest countries in the world'" commented Spooner.
Ends
Breast Feeding Hits New Highs in Aotearoa/New Zealand
If you've just given birth to a baby in New Zealand, chances are, you'll breast feed your new born until at least the age of one. Thanks to employment legislation set in place in 2015, designed to support mothers to breast feed for as long as possible, new laws designed to protect and encourage breast feeding in public, two decades of promotional marketing, and the formula health scares of 2008, a breast feeding craze has swept the nation.
"I smiled when I walked to lunch today, because I walked past a large group of mothers breastfeeding in a garden area especially created for Mums and babies. Believe it or not I remember a time when people perhaps breastfed for three months and then were forced to leave their babies and return to work," said Minister of Health - Ana Spooner.
Thanks to work-place policy that ensured Mothers could either take a year out on a Government sponsored Parent's Wage, work from home, or take their child to work and utilise the support of in-house parenting support, breastfeeding rates have soared and the health benefits are clearly obvious.
Some benefits of breast feeding for babies include reduced cholesterol levels, reduced blood pressure levels in their teens, lower levels of depression through life, less likelihood of respiratory illness and a general positive influence on mental development.
"We're certainly noticing these health benefits beginning to show up in statistics. New Zealand children and adolescents are among the healthiest in the world. I think this is playing a significant role in New Zealand's new status as one of the five 'happiest countries in the world'" commented Spooner.
Ends
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