January 21, 2012

Breast milk courier helps Indonesian mums cope

Reuters) - Febby Kemala Dewi returned to work at a Jakarta accounting firm after three months of maternity leave but struggled, like many new mums, to balance her home and work lives -- especially keeping her infant daughter fed.

Unwilling to stop breastfeeding, unable to pump enough for a whole day in the morning before work and leery of giving her baby anything but the freshest milk, she finally turned to a unique Jakarta service -- a breast milk motorbike courier.

"I have to work, but at the same time I can still feed my baby," said Dewi, the wall by her desk plastered with pictures of her smiling daughter, eight-month-old Ashalina Putri.

Now, the 29-year-old IT consultant pumps breast milk at her office in central Jakarta and a courier comes to pick up the bottles around lunchtime.

Placing them in a padded cooler box whose strap he then slings over his shoulder, the courier rides 45 minutes to an hour on a motorbike through choked Jakarta streets to deliver the milk to Dewi's mother, who cares for the baby.