"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2019-08-22T10:59:27Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/08/22/new-zealand-speaker-feeds-lawmakers-baby-in-parliament.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="new zealand speaker feeds lawmaker's baby in parliament"
data-first-publish-slug="new zealand speaker feeds lawmaker's baby in parliament"
data-video-tags="children,continents and regions,demographic groups,families and children,family members and relatives,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,infants and toddlers,legislative bodies,new zealand,oceania,politics,population and demographics,society"
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
New Zealand speaker feeds lawmaker's baby in Parliament
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2019-08-22T10:59:27Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/08/22/new-zealand-speaker-feeds-lawmakers-baby-in-parliament.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="new zealand speaker feeds lawmaker's baby in parliament"
data-first-publish-slug="new zealand speaker feeds lawmaker's baby in parliament"
data-video-tags="children,continents and regions,demographic groups,families and children,family members and relatives,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,infants and toddlers,legislative bodies,new zealand,oceania,politics,population and demographics,society"
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
New Zealand speaker feeds lawmaker's baby in Parliament
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-06-15T12:31:23Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/06/15/princess-kate-balcony-royal-family-trooping-the-colour-intl-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="princess kate balcony royal family trooping the colour intl digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="princess kate balcony royal family trooping the colour intl digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
See Princess of Wales with royal family on balcony in first public appearance
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-06-15T11:13:43Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/06/15/princess-kate-first-appearance-cancer-trooping-the-colour-nr-intl-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="princess kate first appearance cancer trooping the colour nr intl digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="princess kate first appearance cancer trooping the colour nr intl digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
Video shows Princess of Wales exiting carriage in first appearance since cancer diagnosis
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-06-06T13:41:17Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/06/06/biden-d-day-normandy-80-years-democracy-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="biden d day normandy 80 years democracy digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="biden d day normandy 80 years democracy digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
Biden gives warning about democracy during D-Day 80th anniversary speech
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-06-02T22:20:59Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/06/02/mexico-election-first-female-president-expected-valdes-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="mexico election first female president expected valdes digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="mexico election first female president expected valdes digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-05-21T20:29:36Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/05/21/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-lead-tapper-intv-gaza-lives-sot-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="benjamin netanyahu israel lead tapper intv gaza lives sot digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="benjamin netanyahu israel lead tapper intv gaza lives sot digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
'Anything you and the IDF could have done any differently?': Tapper asks Netanyahu about loss of innocent lives
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-05-22T17:01:48Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/05/22/rishi-sunak-british-pm-surprise-july-election-uk-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="rishi sunak British PM surprise july election uk digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="rishi sunak British PM surprise july election uk digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
British PM calls for election as crowd plays opposition anthem
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2024-05-19T16:57:09Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/05/19/iran-president-ebrahim-raisi-helicopter-crash-scene-details-digvid.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="iran president Ebrahim Raisi helicopter crash scene details digvid"
data-first-publish-slug="iran president Ebrahim Raisi helicopter crash scene details digvid"
data-video-tags=""
data-details="">
Video Ad Feedback
Video shows foggy scene where helicopter carrying Iranian president crashed
The New Zealand Parliament invited a special guest onto the chamber floor Wednesday – a newborn baby.
The country’s parliamentary speaker Trevor Mallard held and fed the one-month-old son of lawmaker Tāmati Coffey while presiding over a debate.
“Normally the speaker’s chair is only used by presiding officers but today a VIP took the chair with me,” Mallard tweeted, along with a photo of him bottle-feeding the baby, whose father had just returned from paternity leave and was sat close by.
Videos show Mallard rocking the baby as he listened to the debate. At one point, he warns a lawmaker that their time had run out, followed by a gurgle of agreement from the baby.
People on social media were quick to praise Mallard and Coffey. “Thank you for normalizing the family unit,” one person tweeted in response to Mallard’s photo. “We need to see more of this. Work places need to adapt to enable this behavior.”
Another Twitter user said: “New Zealand…you might be a small country, but you have a huge lesson to teach the world!”
Many lawmakers were just as supportive. Gareth Hughes, a Green Party parliamentary member, posted a photo of Mallard holding up and smiling at the baby. “Lovely to have a baby in the House, and what a beautiful one,” Hughes tweeted.
Last year, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made history becoming the first world leader in nearly 30 years to have a child while in office. She later returned to her job, while her partner, Clarke Gayford, became a stay-at-home dad.
She continued to make headlines when she and Gayford brought their baby to the United Nations assembly hall last September. Ardern said it was a “practical decision,” according to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand.
Bringing babies into government buildings may still be unusual in many countries, and outright forbidden in others – an elected representative in Kenya who brought her baby into the debating chamber was reportedly forced to leave earlier this month. Images shared online showed Zuelekha Hassan Juma being ejected from the floor of the National Assembly while cradling her child.
But several other more positive cases suggest attitudes may be changing elsewhere – British lawmaker Jo Swinson brought her baby to a parliamentary debate last September, while Australian legislator Larissa Waters breastfed her daughter while in Parliament in 2017.
