Australian politician becomes first to breastfeed in parliament

Australian Senator Larissa Waters returned to Parliament with her newborn daughter after a 10-week-long maternity leave ready to make history.

The Queensland politician followed through on her promise Tuesday to feed her daughter, Alia Joy, whenever, wherever -- even if it meant doing so in the Senate chamber.

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

The tweet was shared more than 680 times and received hundreds of replies from users praising the new mom for taking a stand.

“Parliament making womanhood ‘normal’ and setting the bar for all employers when it comes to accepting women as equals in the workplace,” one Twitter user replied.

“This is great... When’s she’s older she’ll be asked why it wasn’t the norm back then,” another commented.

The Australian Parliament changed its rules last year to allow female lawmakers to nurse their infants in the chamber. Before that, children were banned from the chamber. And breastfeeding mothers were given a proxy vote.

Waters, who was influential in the rule change, said in November, “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.”

On International Woman’s Day, while Waters was still on maternity leave, the senator announced the birth of her daughter and hinted about what was to come.

Photograph: @larissawaters/Twitter