"Company offers breastfeeding moms new perk"

Lucy Mwaura, a factory hygienist at Nestlé Kenya Limited , on Tuesday became the face of women employees with babies. The company was handing them a new exciting perk; a breastfeeding room for lactating mothers...“Before, the only place where we could express our milk was in the toilet. And as we all know, nobody would be very pleased to eat food they knew was prepared in a toilet, but that is where we’ve been preparing our baby’s food,” she says...

...It is a room that Ms Ciru Miring’u head of Nestlé says does not have to cost companies much especially if they genuinely have the interest of their workers as a priority. The room cost Shs400,000 to set up. While encouraging other companies to take the cue, she says: “There are many reasons why having a lactation room makes sense for an organisation. It has been proven that we can expect lower medical costs and health insurance claims for breastfeeding employees and their infants, lower absenteeism rates, improved productivity, increased employee morale as well as reduced turnover rates.”

Nestlé joins a league of Kenyan companies publicly known to be supportive of breastfeeding mothers including Safaricom, Oserian and EPZ.