It’s been so long since I last posted, you’re all probably wondering who the heck I am. Well I’m Berni, nice to meet you. I’ve been mega busy since Kyle turned 2, he’s such a little whirlwind of energy and just general happiness, it’s hard not to get caught up in the moment! But that isn’t why I’m posting today. No. I’m posting about something much serious, and close to the hearts of all nursing mothers (and non-nursing to!).
How would you feel if you needed help, so went to a mum and baby shelter to get that help, and by doing so you then had your 15 month old baby, ripped from your arms and then you were cast out of the shelter because you no longer had a baby?
This is exactly what happened to Habiba in Madrid, Spain. The reason?
She refused to abide by the rules.
Well she obviously deserved it, I mean the rules are there for a reason right? What rule did she break anyway?
All shelters in Spain do not allow breastfeeding and Habiba refused to wean her 15 month old baby from breastfeeding.
Now I didn’t breastfeed after my son was 8 weeks old due to stress/milk supply dwindling. But that isn’t the point here. The point is the shelters in Spain are not only going the WHO recommendations to breastfeed until at LEAST 2 years of age and beyond. They are also breaking EU conventions in a country that is supposed to be very PRO-breastfeeding. Unfortunately (at least to me) it looks like they only support you breastfeed if you have a good income and don’t need any help for whatever reason.
The following is a roughly translated press release of what has happened (Taken from various sources online)
“On Saturday the 4th of June ago a well-known Spanish children’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ibone Olza, who also works for the main organization in Spain that campaigns to protect the rights of women and children at birth, “El Parto es Nuestro” (Birth is ours). Informed some of us via Facebook that a Moroccan mother, Habiba had been separated from her 15 month old daughter while she was in the care of a shelter, IMMF Instituto Madrileño del Menor y la Familia (Madrilean Institute for the Minor and the Family), she had accepted to go to this shelter due to her bad economic situation. Apparently this shelters have a psychotherapy/maternal habilities program that involves taking medication to stop the milk production, as breastfeeding is considered “chaotic” and “damaging” and also because it will make more difficult putting the child for adoption if this need arises.
When Habiba refused to follow this regulations the centre decided to separate mother and daughter, without following any legal procedure, without allowing her to say bye to her daughter and without communicating to her where they were taking her baby. After this and since the shelter is a centre for parents with their children, since she longer had no child, the centre put Habiba back on the streets.
Habiba is suffering not only emotionally but she is suffering from engorgement and she is on the edge of developing mastitis. Dr. Ibone is trying to help by having Habiba to express milk and taking it to the IMMF, who after a lot of persuasion are keeping the milk, we do not know what are they doing with it, as breastfeeding is not allowed in any of the shelters in Madrid.
Both a psychiatrist and a psychologist have evaluated Habiba and there are no evidence of a need to be separated from her daughter, if anything there is a clear stress from the abrupt separation.
Habiba has found legal representation through an organisation that is now looking after her, and she was allowed on the 9th of June to see her daughter only for one hour, making the situation even more painful and distressing for both mother and daughter.
This places are supposed to be supportive, there are meant to be places to care for families when they find themselves in any sort of trouble, such as sexual abuse, economic problems, etc…They shouldn’t be abusing power and inflicting yet more pain.
Apart from its psychological importance, breastfeeding reduces the incidence of infectious diseases, chronic diseases and auto-immune diseases, offers optimal development and growth, cognitive and visual development and evidence suggests that it decreases the risk of obesity. The benefits of breastfeeding extend throughout the whole life cycle. In the global context, breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding help fulfil the Millennium Development Goals and have the potential to reduce under-5 mortality by 19%. (ref 1).
The decision to separate breastfeeding mothers from their babies flies in the face of a number of UN Resolutions and conventions, including the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and the 12 subsequent WHA resolutions, the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding, UNICEF’s Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative and the Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding, which all stress the critical importance of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life with nutritionally adequate and safe complementary feeding alongside continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years and beyond. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child also recognizes the contribution breastfeeding makes to the fulfilment of the right of the child to the highest attainable standard of health.
1 Jones G et al. (2003) How many child deaths can we prevent this year? The Lancet, no 362, 65-71.
The situation has now spread to the main papers in Spain (http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/Separada/hija/darle/pecho/elpepusoc/20110608elpepusoc_9/Tes) and some international webs and associations. And there is both Spanish and International support group in Facebook, with around 4,000 supporters so far.
The situation is simply intolerable, it was discovered by Habiba’s lawyer that when they went to visit the baby at the centre it was only 2 guardians to look after 42 children with ages ranging from 0-6. Amongst them Habiba’s baby.”
This story is heartbreaking and it deserves more attention than it is receiving. Please help support Habiba to get her little girl back by Joining the Facebook page here and take part in the peaceful protests around the UK here.
