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Myth: Mothers refusing to breast-feed can be prosecuted
“Lactivists” and officials fiercely reject the notion that a mother could be persecuted under the 2009 Health Law for refusing to breast-feed their babies, saying the law was made to protect mothers and not intimidate them
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“Lactivists” and officials fiercely reject the notion that a mother could be persecuted under the 2009 Health Law for refusing to breast-feed their babies, saying the law was made to protect mothers and not intimidate them.
“The law ensures a mother’s right [to breast-feed],” Minarto, the director of community nutrition at the Health Ministry told The Jakarta Post Thursday.
The health law stipulates that each infant has the right to exclusive breast milk from birth up to six months.
Article 128 in the law states that during the breast-feeding period, families, the government and the community must support mothers by allowing special time and facilities in the workplace and in public places, while Article 200 stipulates that anyone from the previous article hindering breast-feeding faces persecution, with a maximum sentence of Rp 100 million (US$1,100) or a year in prison.
Minarto said those facing prosecution were the ones who prevented mothers from breast-feeding, not the mothers themselves.
“We provide them with knowledge and in the end, we hope they make the right choice,” he said when asked if the choice to breast-feed was left to the mothers.
Last month, Sarsintorini Putra, a law expert from 17 Agustus University in Semarang, Central Java, said a mother could be sentenced for denying her infant breast milk.
He cited articles in the health law as a legal basis.
However, Amanda Tasya from the Indonesian Breast-feeding Mother’s Association (IBMA) said the punishment was aimed at parties mentioned in article 128: the family, the community and the government.
“I don’t believe [Sarsintorini’s] interpretation was an integrated one. It did not refer to Article 128,” she said.
The Indonesian Coalition of Breast Milk Advocacy issued a statement saying that the purpose of Article 200 was to protect the mother to provide the infant with exclusive breast milk, and not threaten her with criminal sanctions should she choose not to breast-feed.
Earlier this week, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari rejected the idea of persecuting mothers who refused to breast-feed.
In a seminar Thursday, Sr. Comr. Banuara Manurung, a lawyer with the Legal Development Division at the National Police, voiced the idea that mothers could be persecuted, or that the law could serve a reminder for mothers.
His idea was criticized by seminar participants, which included health workers, “lactivists” or those advocating for breast-feeding, and officials.
Minarto said programs to promote breast-feeding had been carried out by the government since the 1990s, when it launched the four-month exclusive breast-feeding program.
He quoted data from the 2004-2008 National Social Economic Survey, which revealed that the number of infants under the age of six months who received breast milk exclusively decreased from 64.1 percent in 2006 to 56.2 percent in 2008.
Malnutrition, a chronic issue in the country, is prevalent partly because infants are not given colostrum — a form of breast milk produced in late pregnancy and a few days after birth by mothers — to boost the infant’s supply of antibodies and nutrition, and also because infants were not fed with breast milk exclusively during their first six months.
One of Indonesia’s targets in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is reducing malnutrition and infant mortality.
The 2007 basic health research quoted by Minarto revealed that 36.8 percent of children under five who were surveyed experienced stunted growth.
