Breastfeeding needs a father's commitment too

Lee and Lin say that breastfeeding is more convenient than formula, since they don’t have to lug around bottles and hot water. Photos: The Star/Raymond Ooi

In a confinement centre where new mothers and their babies are cared for in the month after birth, ta troop of eagle-eyed nurses look after swaddled babies, comfortably cocooned in their bassinets.

Next to a large dining table, second-time mother Sharon Lin, 36, is nursing her two-week-old daughter. Her newborn is latched onto her breast, hidden beneath a cavernous nursing cover. “Is everything okay?” breastfeeding and confinement specialist Gina Yong, 43, asks. She is the owner of the confinement centre in Kuala Lumpur and keeps a watchful eye on her clients, especially when it comes to breastfeeding their babies.