Newborn makes history by becoming first baby to be breastfed in parliament

Little Alia Joy Waters is not yet three months old. But the newborn has already made political history by becoming the first baby to be breast fed in the Australian parliament.

As most new mums will appreciate when your baby is hungry, they need to be fed and if that happens to be in the middle of a parliament sitting then so be it.

So when Senator Larissa Waters returned to parliament yesterday for the first time since giving birth to her second daughter earlier this year, she didn’t hesitate to feed Alia Joy when she needed to nurse.

Afterwards the mum-of-two took to Twitter to express her pride in her daughter’s historical moment.

“So proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament! We need more #women & parents in Parli,” she wrote.

Fellow politician Katy Gallagher said the move was a moment that deserved to be celebrated.

“Women have been doing it in parliaments around the world. It is great to see it is able to occur now in the Senate,” she told Sky News.

“Women are going to continue to have babies and if they want to do their job and be at work and look after their baby the reality is we are going to have to accommodate that.”

The breakthrough breastfeeding moment follows an extension in rules that was instigated by Senator Waters last year. It meant that new mums and dads, who were already allowed to breastfeed in the chamber, would also be permitted to briefly care for their babies on the floor of parliament.

In the UK, MPs are currently not allowed to breastfeed in the chamber of the House of Commons.

In November, she told according to CNN, “If we want more young women in Parliament, we must make the rules more family-friendly to allow new mothers and new fathers to balance their parliamentary and parental duties.”

The country has come a long way since another female MP, Kirstie Marshall, was removed from the chamber for breastfeeding her 11-day-old daughter Charlotte back in 2003.

In the UK, MPs are currently not allowed to breastfeed in the chamber of the House of Commons.

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