Categories
Nowra NSW

Working With The Breastfeeding Friendly Shoalhaven Project

Shoalhaven Council really is working hard to make the area breastfeeding friendly. Since we’ve been in touch with the Council, they’ve been very good at providing information requested, answering questions, asking for suggestions, and following up on additional queries. All this to make life for families, and breastfeeding mums, easier in the Shoalhaven area – particularly Nowra.

Right now, one of the Community Development Officers assigned to the Breastfeeding Friendly Shoalhaven Project is following up with businesses/venues in Nowra listed as breastfeeding friendly, to find out if they have private feeding areas. They’ll be getting back to us with more details, to share with all of you.

Keep watching for more updates. This is really exciting!

Categories
Nowra NSW

Steps to make Nowra more breastfeeding friendly

Over the Christmas break, we contacted Shoalhaven City Council, asking them about the lack of adequate parent room/baby care facilities in Nowra.

A few years ago there was a Women’s Rest Centre which was fabulous for parents of babies. You could stop in there for a break, feed your baby in private, and change nappies. Sadly it had to be closed, mainly ‘due to concerns of escalating anti social behaviour in the area and staff/user safety. There are currently no plans toreopen the facility. In fact, the building is not available as it houses a local business.’

The council has been working on creating a more breastfeeding friendly environment throughout the business community. A wallet size resource card is available through the council, providing details of the venues and locations of businesses which are breastfeeding-friendly, and the location of baby change facilities throughout the Shoalhaven area.

This is a step in the right direction for families living in, and visiting Nowra and the Shoalhaven area. While there is still a pressing need for clean, safe, easily accessible private feeding areas, the work the council has done to date is both encouraging and promising.

Click on the following link for more details: Breastfeeding venues

 

Categories
Nowra NSW

Not good in Nowra – a decent parent room is needed!!

We received a sad report of the state of parent rooms in Nowra, from the lovely Maxi.

If you’re in Nowra and need a parent room, hopefully you are close to one of the places shown on the attached photo. There was a fabulous facility in the middle of town, but it was closed down. Read on for what Maxi says about it:

‘I wish that in Nowra we had a decent parent room to share. We used to have a council run “Rest Center” in the middle of town which had everything we needed for a quick change to a full feed. They even had tea and coffee. Sadly it got closed…… Our only option for changing our babies ‘up town’ is a yucky smelly change room in the mall or at the library. There is nowhere to feed other than a park bench or cafe. Stockland ‘down town’, has a parent room which is acceptable but does not help when you are ‘up town’.

One comment received from one of the readers:

‘The mall parent room is the same as the disabled toilet… its gross, I refuse to feed a baby sitting on the only seat – a toilet. Stockland parent room cubicles are so small u cant fit a pram in, and libraries aren’t really the place for screaming hungry babies. Its a joke here.’

Have you used the parent rooms/baby change facilities in the disabled toilets in Nowra?

What did you think? Did you even know where to find them? What impact has the closure of the rest centre had on you?

I think it’s time for the voices to be heard loud and clear. Time for action.