The Legislative Assembly approved an expansion of breastfeeding rights, which will allow the extension of leave every three months, for the entire period that the baby is breastfed, and include periods for milk extraction during the workday.

The project 24481 “Law to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding,” driven by Deputy Antonio Ortega from the Broad Front (FA), was unanimously approved in its second debate in the third full-power committee on Wednesday, March 18.

The bill states that only 27% of babies in Costa Rica are breastfed until six months, highlighting the need to update the legislation to improve this situation.
Extended breastfeeding has nutritional and emotional benefits that promote children’s health. In this sense, babies who are breastfed for a longer period get sick less often and recover more quickly from illnesses. Therefore, this bill establishes that the work leave (one month before birth and three months after) can be extended every three months for as long as the baby is breastfed, thru medical certification.

At the workplace, the breastfeeding mother will have one hour to breastfeed the child, for which she can choose to arrive one hour later or leave one hour earlier than the usual schedule, or use half-hour intervals twice a day, or 15-minute intervals every two hours during regular workdays or 15-minute intervals every three hours during overtime.