The wife of President Michael D. Higgins, Sabina Higgins, has been voicing her frustration over the treatment of women in Irish hospitals after they have given birth.
Sabina was speaking at the Latching On event in Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday, which was held to mark National Breastfeeding Week. It was the first time she was able to host the event in two years, following the effects of the Covid pandemic.
In particular, Sabina spoke about her concerns that new mothers are not being allocated enough time to be taught how to breastfeed their child. Instead, in Sabina’s words, they are being “thrown out” as quickly as possible in order to free up beds.
The human rights activist’s concerns have been backed up by recent statistics, which showcase that Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Only 40% of new mothers continue to breastfeed their newborn three days after they leave hospital.
Those statistics have worsened over time, as it is suggested that just 10% of women still breastfeed their babies after six months.
“Something huge really needs to be done,” Mrs Higgins insisted, referring to these figures.
“Every midwife should be a trained lactation expert that can help with the latching on, with establishing breastfeeding,” she stated to her audience of breastfeeding mothers and activist groups.
Sabina also noted the role that the media and advertising has played regarding the stigmatisation of breastfeeding.
“We have constantly the formula fed, bottle-fed babies being shown,” she explained. “It would be a highly desirable move by the HSE to have programmes and regular ads on television showing breastfeeding mothers, and about breastfeeding mothers.”
Last year, the HSE began to take action by hiring 24 new community lactation consultants across Ireland. However, part-time lactation specialist Ciara Bohan says that this is not enough.
“By the time people have a baby they will know the names of all the formulas, but they might not have ever heard of a lactation consultant,” she worried.
The HSE has yet to respond to Mrs Higgins’ comments.
