Times have changed, Mama Im coming home

BANGALORE: Choosing how and what to feed a new born baby is a personal decision resting on a mother. A mother also knows that no other formula can match breast-milk.But at times, newly-turned mums find their hands cuffed and get into formula feeding due to the work demand at the professional front. More and more new mothers are part of the workforce now than ever before and this trend has implications for many child-rearing practices, including breast-feeding.“A lot changes with motherhood, including the fact that the baby deserves mother’s time and attention more than anything else. But financial security is an aspect that cannot be neglected and here pitches in the dilemma. Lengthy working hours and a short maternity leave allowing mothers to go off their desks only for three months, leaves mothers in jeopardy,” said Suhani Mehta, an expecting mother, working with a private firm.Coming to the rescue in such situation are some of the private companies with special rooms, and added features for expecting and newly-turned mothers.These firms have screened off areas for the mothers to spend some time bonding with their newly born. These are designated breast- feeding areas called Mother’s Zones or Mother’s Room.Microsoft corporation is one such firm.“Motherhood and beyond is a very crucial phase for any woman and we extend our full support in providing a platform with all facilities where they can connect with the child. We have one Mother’s Room on every floor where expecting mothers and those who are already enjoying motherhood can rest or nurse their child,” said Sanjay Anand, managing director, Microsoft, Bangalore.The company provides a flexible and paid breast-feeding breaks for new mothers, a screened-off area to give mothers privacy while they breast-feed, and the breaks are flexible depending on whenever the employee wants to.Despite the common belief that this arrangement can hit the business, those who are already up with the facility feel that the result is just the reverse.“Motherhood in no way has an adverse effect on the performance of a woman as an employee of a company. Some of our best employees are newly turned mothers,” said Sanjay. And as expected, newly -turned moms are looking forward to it.“I am excited about it and as soon as I rejoin my office, I will be using Mother’s Room for good. Such arrangements work wonders as mothers can concentrate more on their work, knowing that their babies are getting proper nutrition,” said Shweta Mohanty, a Microsoft employee and an expecting mother.Experts feel that the concept is very helpful for working women, apart from improving the rate of breastfeeding.“Such arrangement works wonders and has been proved beneficial scientifically as well. A number of companies are coming up with a segregated space for expecting and nursing mothers and this concept is working well as far as babies’ health is concerned,” said Dr Anita, gynaecologist, Fortis Hospital.Google, the multinational company is not far behind in providing a comfortable and friendly environment to its women employees. “Women at Google play a very integral role in the organisation and we have a variety of internal workplace programs to ensure it is a great place to work for women. We focus on creating an inclusive environment and mother’s room is one of those,” informed a Google spokesperson.