Beijing establishes 200 nursing rooms for working moms  

北京首批妈咪屋建成:女员工不用再躲厕所喂奶

为方便在职女工给孩子哺乳，今年初北京市启动了“妈咪屋”项目。昨日，北京市总工会介绍，北京市首批200间“妈咪屋”的建设工作已基本完成，目前已启动第二批申报工作。目标是3年内将建成1000间“妈咪屋”。 [查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Beijing has completed the construction of 200 nursing rooms at various workplaces across the city as part of its "Mother's Room" project, Beijing News reported on Thursday.

The nursing rooms, furnished with refrigerators, are intended to provide privacy for working mothers to breastfeed.

The project was introduced by the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions as the number of breastfeeding workers in the city has hit 3.25 million and is expected to increase along with China's new second-child policy.

The federation said the 200 rooms were only the first phase of the project and that it plans to introduce 1,000 nursing rooms across the city within three years.

A survey conducted two month ago, found that only seven percent of working mothers who had breastfed or were still breastfeeding have been provided with nursing rooms at work. Around 53 percent used areas such as offices, storage rooms and meeting rooms, while 47 percent said they had to breastfeed in toilets.

Most complained about the difficulties associated with finding the required privacy in public spaces.