Selma Roth Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Following the statements on breastfeeding by Dr. Modia Batterjee that it is “promoted but not supported” and that infant formula is given to nearly all babies in hospitals, which she made in the article “The importance of breastfeeding” that was published in the Saudi Gazette on Jan. 4, 2014, several women confirm the many challenges they face when breastfeeding, but none of them was pressurized or advised to use formula by doctors or nurses in the Kingdom. Maria, 34, lives with her husband and two-year-old son in Jeddah. The Spanish woman, who requested not to have her family name revealed, is currently expecting her second child. Although no doctor ever tried to convince her to use infant formula – quite the opposite: When she did not have milk the first two days after her son was born, she had to “beg the nurse” to give her a bottle and formula – the challenges arose when she went outside with her infant: “Having to wear the abaya and with no proper places to sit down calmly, it becomes really an issue,” she told the Saudi Gazette, adding that in Dubai or Europe most shopping malls have designated breastfeeding spaces. “New malls often have fitting rooms with benches where you can breastfeed, but what if you are at a souq? They have no facilities at all. When my baby was one year old I found a black [nursing] cover that I can use when breastfeeding, but in summer, when it is hot, this is very difficult,” she remarked, saying her baby did not like the hot cover and kept kicking it away. However, that this is not only a problem women living in the Kingdom face, knows Mirjam Bäcker. The 33-year-old Dutch woman currently lives with her husband and two sons in Jeddah. Her eldest was born nearly three years ago in Dubai. “In The Netherlands I do not mind feeding my baby in public, but here and in Dubai I would not feel comfortable, even if it was accepted,” Bäcker commented. While in Dubai all malls have a breastfeeding room, in The Netherlands such places are scarce, according to her, “and people sometimes look at me when I am breastfeeding in public. Recently, I read in a [Dutch] paper about a couple who had been dismissed from a restaurant because the woman was breastfeeding her baby.” Laetitia Sutcliffe, 40, is even “surprisingly positive” about breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia. In a personal message, Sutcliffe writes that she is “passionate” about the topic and has breastfed both her children until almost 3 years of age. “I have always breastfed in public when I was out in shops, restaurants, cars, buses. I believe society should feel breastfeeding is a normal part of life, and it is up to every breastfeeding mum to make an effort and not hide away,” she opines. Sutcliffe feels breastfeeding here does not have the “dirty connotation it sometimes has in Europe or the USA with older people. Instead, it seems people believe it is still the best way to nourish an infant, as it is mentioned in the Qur'an.” The French lady, who has a South African husband, says she never got any scornful look or comment while breastfeeding in public here, contrary to her experience in France and South Africa. “People here have been both intrigued but supportive. I once met a totally covered lady who came to tell me ‘well done!'” These expat mothers confirm Dr. Batterjee's conclusion that breastfeeding is “promoted but not supported”. However, her claim that nearly all babies receive infant formula at the Kingdom's public and private hospitals seems a sweeping statement. Both Maria and Bäcker, who gave birth in the International Medical Center and Suleiman Faqeih Hospital, respectively, experienced the opposite. Expatriate Fiona Maunder, who has two kids, said when her son was born the doctors in the hospital “didn't encourage either way”, adding that she was “very adamant that they didn't give him a bottle”. Some of her friends, nevertheless, were actually told by doctors that they had not enough milk, so they combine breastfeeding with formula, thus confirming Batterjee's claim. Maunder, who is 40 years and comes from the UK, says she breastfeeds in malls and restaurants without nursing cover, which is too much of a hassle. “Here, they would rather come to tell you to cover your hair than to stop breastfeeding,” she feels. The real issue, according to her, is the lack of facilities to breastfeed as well as support in case you need it. “As soon as you come across any breastfeeding problem there is no support here. It's getting slightly better. But formula is a huge business here. You even see toddlers getting bottles. Both Bäcker and Maria also see many infants with big bottles, although they admit this could be expressed milk as well. Maria, however, recently went to a mall and saw infant formula actually being promoted, giving samples to all young mothers despite Saudi Arabia having adopted the international code to regulate the marketing of breast-milk substitutes as law in 2011. The code calls for “no promotion of breast-milk substitutes”, and “no free samples of substitutes to be given to pregnant women, mothers or their families”. Recently, the Federal National Council in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) passed a clause in the Child Rights Law that obliges women to breastfeed their child up to the age of 2, The National reported. However, not everyone is content with the clause. The law could lead to mothers being sued by their husbands for not breastfeeding their baby, UAE Social Affairs Minister Mariam Al Roumi warned. Members of the international breastfeeding support group, La Leche League, and Out of the Blues, a Dubai-based group created to support mothers suffering from postnatal illness, also think the law is going too far. While they laud encouraging women to breastfeed, this should be done by supporting women who can and want to breastfeed, and not by punishing those who cannot, Out of the Blues wrote in an opinion article in The National. They argued there are many cases in which women are unable to breastfeed effectively and the law does not seem to take that into consideration.
