A worrying decline in exclusive breast-feeding by new mothers underlines the need for the government to move quickly and enact a regulation that is meant to encourage and make breast-feeding easier, health activists say.

Tirta Prawita Sari, chairwoman of the Nutrition Conscious Society Foundation, said discussion of the regulation had been sidelined by the government after the untimely death for former Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih in May.

The regulation is urgently needed, she said, pointing to a decline in exclusive breast-feeding among mothers.

"In 2006, 64.1 percent of mothers provided exclusive breast-feeding to their babies up to 6 months of age. But that figure dropped to 62.2 percent in 2007 and in 2008 it dropped to 56.2 percent," Tirta said.

"We urge the government to enact the regulation, which provides working mothers compensation during the mandatory exclusive breast-feeding period, like a six-month maternal leave after giving birth."

Tirta said that as more women worked outside of the home, exclusive breast-feeding would continue to dwindle unless the government moved to ensure the rights of working mothers were protected.

Under the regulation, offices and public buildings will be obliged to provide a nursing room where mothers can breast-feed or pump milk as if in the privacy of their home.

The regulation would also oblige companies to provide certain concessions for female employees such as allowing them regular breaks to breast-feed or pump milk.

It would outlaw all advertisements for milk formula targeted at babies under the age of 1, to encourage parents to choose breast milk, which contains more nutrients and immune system-boosting properties than commercial formula brands.

According to the 2007 government-sponsored National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas), 13 percent of children under the age of 5 nationwide were malnourished, while 5.4 percent were undernourished, largely because they were not breast-fed.