CHENNAI: The civic body has finalised designs and called out for tenders for feeding rooms to be set up in bus terminuses where lactating mothers can feed their babies, following chief minister J Jayalalithaa's announcement.As the World Breastfeeding Week began on Saturday, Chennai Corporation put up a modular feeding room at the Anna Square bus terminus in Chepauk. Keeping up with this year's theme- "Breastfeeding and Work- Let's Make it Work"- the scheme is being launched across the state to help working mothers feed their babies in privacy."20% of mothers start reducing breastfeeding even before they join work, so that their child gets used to it and that isn't the right this to do," says head of the neonatology department at Saveetha Medical College and former neonatologist at Institute of Child Health, Dr Kumuda J. "A working woman's confidence should not be undermined. With support from the employer and the family, working mothers will be able to feed their babies or express breast milk from work places."These feeding rooms also have an attached toilet and can accommodate four- to six mothers and babies at a time. Corporation manages seven bus terminuses in the city including Velachery and Broadway where these rooms will be set up. 32 terminuses are managed by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation. "The CMDA managed Koyambedu bus stand will have an air conditioned feeding room," a senior corporation official said. The civic body built rooms only have fans. "The contractor has to install six more feeding rooms, after which we will give water, sewer and electricity connections and open it to public. We may also appoint security personnel based on government orders" the official said."This is an innovative gesture but the rooms should be maintained well and not misused," says a new mother Sandhya R who worked from him post her maternity leave. "Only now my office got a room for lactating mothers. I knew my baby requires only my milk for the first six months which is why I had to work from home. During this time I never left home either because it impossible to feed in public. After the first six months, I made breast milk secondary food for my son.""There are a lot of maternity benefits that working mothers need to be aware of and avail," Dr Kumuda says. "Like government sectors, private organisations also need to start offering 6 months paid maternity leave. Mothers also need places for breast milk expression so they can take the milk back home. Only if they express milk regularly will they be able to feed their child adequately." Doctors say that if a baby isn't sufficiently breast fed in the first six months, they will weigh low and not have enough resistance to infections. "The antibodies, enzymes and growth factors that are attained through breast milk cannot be found in formula food."