Juggling bills and baby: Baroness Bryony Worthington at home in Cambridge with six month old baby RohanIt has a reputation for being rather a stuffy old place. But the House of Lords has proved to be remarkably welcoming towards its first breastfeeding member and her baby son.
Baroness Worthington feeds six month old Rohan Worthington Chennu on the Lords’ terrace, in her office or in one of the ladies’ lavatories – and says Their Noble Lordships are always delighted to see him.
When the newly created Labour peer, 39, is dealing with papers and committee work, Rohan is looked after in the opposition chief whip’s office.
She has also secured a Lords’ visitor’s pass for her babysitter.
Today Lady Worthington, an environmental campaigner, said: ‘Rohan is a cheerful chap and likes being out and about. It’s quite a novelty to see a baby in the Lords so all the peers stop and have a little talk or a play with him.’
‘The usual comment when they see him is, “Here comes the youngest member of the House of Lords”.’
Lady Worthington, who is herself the youngest woman member of the Lords, added: ‘He’s much happier being taken to the Lords than being at home.’
‘He likes being stimulated, so this is ideal. It’s very bright and busy. He looks around at all the gold and colour. I think he probably thinks it’s normal now.’
She is believed to be the first member of the Lords to breastfeed in its precincts in its 700 year history.
Married to neuroscientist Dr Srivas Chennu, she commutes to Parliament from their Cambridge home. The couple will consider full-time child care when Rohan is older, she says.
Bryony Worthington founded the carbon trading think-thank and campaign group Sandbag and played a key role helping David Milliband to write the 2008 Climate Change Act.
She was elevated to the Lords last November by Ed Milliband while expecting her first child. In her maiden speech earlier this year she thanked ‘all the staff of the house who have made my baby son feel very welcome’.
No rules prevent breastfeeding in the Lords generally, but it is not permitted to breastfeed in the chamber.
Recent reports have indicated that Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Lords, was considering changing the rules so young mothers could breastfeed their children ‘discreetly’ in the chamber.