Republic Act No. 7600
The Rooming-In and Breast-Feeding Act of
1992
(Promulgated June
2, 1992)
Section 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as "The
Rooming-In and Breast-Feeding Act of 1992".
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State adopts rooming-in
as a national policy to encourage, protect and support the practice
of breastfeeding. It shall create an environment where the basic
physical, emotional, and psychological needs of mothers and infants
are fulfilled through the practice of rooming-in and breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding has distinct advantages
which benefit the infant and the mother including the hospital and
the country that adopt its practice. It is the first preventive
health measure that can be given to the child at birth. It also
enhances mother-infant relationship.Furthermore,
the practice of Breastfeeding could save the country valuable foreign
exchange that may otherwise be used for milk importation.
Breastmilk is the best food since it contains essential _____
completely suitable for the infant’s needs. It is also nature’s
first immunization, enabling the infant to fight potential serious
infection. It contains growth factors that
enhance the maturization of an infant’s
organ systems.
Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act,
the following definition are adopted:
(a) Age of gestation -
the length of time the fetus is inside the mother's womb.
(b) Bottle-feeding - the method
of feeding an infant using a bottle with artificial nipples, the
contents of which can be any type of fluid.
(c) Breastfeeding - the method
of feeding an infant directly from the human breast.
(d) Breastmilk
- the human milk from a mother.
(e) Expressed Breastwork - the
human milk which was extracted from the
breast by hand or by pump. It can be fed to an infant using the
dropper, a nasogatric tube, a cup and
spoon, or a bottle.
(f) Formula Feeding - the feeding
of a newborn with infant formula usually by bottlefeeding.
It is also called artificial feeding.
(g) Health Institutions - are
hospitals, health infirmaries, health
centers, lying-in centers, or puericulture
centers with obstetrical and pediatric services.
(h) Health Personnel - are professionals
and workers who manage and/or administer the entire operation
and health institutions and/or who are involved in providing maternal
and child health services.
(i)
Infant - a child within zero (0) to twelve (12) months of age.
(j) Infant Formula - the Breastmilk
substitute formulated industrially in accordance with applicable
Codex Alimentary standards, to satisfy the normal nutritional
requirements of infants up to six (6) months of age, and adopted
to their physiological characteristics.
(k) Lactation Management - the
general care of a mother-infant nursing couple during the mother's
prenatal immediate postpartum and postnatal periods. It deals with educating and
providing knowledge and information to pregnant and lactating
mothers on the advantages of Breastfeeding, the physiology of
lactation, the establishment and maintenance of lactation, the
proper care that would contribute to successful Breastfeeding.
(l) Low Birth Weight Infant -
a newborn weighing less than two thousand five hundred (2,500)
grams at birth.
(m) Mother's milk - the Breastwork
from the newborn's own mother.
(n) Rooming-in - the practice
of placing the newborn in the same room as the mother right after
delivery up to discharge to facilitate mother-infant bonding and
to initiate breastfeeding. The infant may either share the mother's
bed or be placed in a crib beside the
mother.
(o) Seriously-ill Mother - are
those who are: with severe infections; in shock; in severe cardiac
or respiratory distress; or dying' or those with other conditions
that may be determined by the attending physician as serious.
(p) Wet-nursing - the feeding
of a new-born from another mother's breast when his/her own mother
cannot breast-feed.
Chapter I. Rooming-in and Breastfeeding of Infants
Sec. 4. Applicability. - The provisions in this Chapter
shall apply to all private and government health institutions adopting
rooming-in and breastfeeding as defined in this Act.
Sec. 5. Normal Spontaneous Deliveries. - The following
newborn infants be put to the breast of the mother immediately after
birth and forthwith roomed-in within thirty (30) minutes:
(a) well
infants regardless of age of gestation; and
(b) infants
with low birth weights but who can suck.
Sec. 6. Deliveries by Caesarian. - Infants delivered
by caesarian section shall be roomed-in and breastfed within three
(3) to four (4) hours after birth.
Sec. 7. Deliveries Outside Health Institutions. - New
borns delivered outside health institutions whose mothers
have been admitted to the obstetrics department/unit and who both
meet the general conditions stated in Section 5 of this Act, shall
be roomed-in and breastfed immediately.
Sec. 8. Exemptions. - Infants whose conditions do not
permit rooming-in and breast-feeding as determined by the attending
physician, and infants whose mothers are either:
(a) seriously
ill;
(b) taking
medications contraindicated to breastfeeding;
(c) violent
psychotics; or
(d) whose
conditions do not permit breastfeeding and rooming-in as determined
by the physician shall be exempted from the provisions of Sections
5, 6, and 7: Provided, That these infants shall be fed expressed
breastmilk or wet-nursed as may be determined
by the attending physician.
Sec. 9. Right of the Mother to Breastfeed. - It shall
be the mother’s right to breastfeeed her
child who equally has the right to her breastmilk.
Bottlefeeding shall be allowed only after the mother has been
informed by the attending health personnel of the advantages of
breastfeeding and the proper techniques of infant formula feeding
and the mother has opted in writing to adopt formula feeding for
her infant.
Chapter II. Human Milk Bank
Sec. 10. Provision of Facilities for Breastmilk
Collection and Storage. - The health institution adopting
rooming-in and Breastfeeding shall provide equipment, facilities,
and supplies for breastmilk collection, storage and utilization, the standards
of which shall be defined by the Department of Health.
Chapter III. Information, Education
and Re-education Drive
Sec. 11. Continuing Education, Re-education and Training of Health
Personnel. - The Department of Health with the assistance
of other government agencies, professional and non-government organizations
shall conduct continuing information, education, re-education, and
training programs for physicians, nurses, midwives, nutritionist,
dietitians, community health workers and traditional birth attendants
(TBAs) and other health personnel on current
and updated lactation management.
Information materials shall be
given to all health personnel involved in maternal and infant care
in health institutions.
Sec. 12. Information Dissemination to Pregnant Women.
- During the prenatal, perinatal and postnatal
consultations and/or confinements of the mothers or pregnant women
in a health institutions, it shall be the obligation of the health
institution and the health personnel to immediately and continuously
teach, train, and support the women on current and updated lactation
management and infant care, through participatory strategies such
as organization of mother’s clubs and breastfeeding support groups
and to distribute written information materials on such matters
free of charge.
Chapter IV. Miscellaneous Provisions
Sec. 13. Incentives. - The expenses incurred by a private
health institution in complying with the provisions of this Act,
shall be deductible expenses for income tax purpose up to twice
the actual incurred: Provided, That the deduction shall apply for
the taxable period when the expenses were incurred: Provided, further,
That the hospital shall comply with the provisions of this Act within
six (6) months after its approval.
Government health institutions
shall receive an additional appropriation equivalent to the savings
the may derive as a result of adopting rooming-in and breastfeeding.
The additional appropriation shall be included in their budget for
the next fiscal year.
Sec. 14. Sanctions. - The Secretary of Health is hereby
empowered to impose sanctions for the violation of this Act and
the rules issued thereunder. Such sanctions
may be in the form of reprimand or censure and in case of repeated
willful violations, suspension of the permit to operate of the health
institution.
Sec. 15. Rules and Regulations. - The Secretary of Health,
in consultation with other government agencies, professional and
non-government organizations concerned shall promulgate the rules
and regulations necessary to carry out the provision of this Act.
Sec. 16. Repealing Clause. - All acts, laws, decrees,
executive orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof, which
are contrary to or inconsistent with this Act are hereby repeated,
amended, or modified accordingly.
Sec. 17. Separability Clause. - If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this
Act shall be declared to be invalid, the remainder of this Act or
any provision not affected thereby shall remain in force and effect.
Sec. 18. Effectivity. - This Act take effect one hundred twenty (120) days after
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
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