‘MORE MOTHERS WOULD BREASTFEED WITH LONGER LEAVE’

▶ Study shows number of UAE mothers breastfeeding in first six months after child birth is below global average

New mothers should have longer maternity leave to allow them to breastfeed their infants, experts say.

The call comes after the release of figures from the UN’s child health agency, which show the percentage of women who breastfeed their babies is below the global average.

The Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, released by Unicef to coincide with the end of World Breastfeeding Week, showed that only 34 per cent of UAE mothers exclusively breastfeed their children under 6 months of age.

That figure is 6 per cent below the global average and 16 per cent below the World Health Assembly target of 50 per cent by 2025.

Statutory maternity leave is only 45 days, although government departments have been voluntarily increasing the leave to three months in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and 60 days in Sharjah.

Dr Laurence Grummer-Strawn, technical officer for nutrition at the World Health Organisation and principal investigator of the scorecard, said the mandatory leave was not enough.

“The UAE has little maternity leave, of six weeks, which is very short compared to internationals standards,” he said. “The International Labour Organisation recommends 18 weeks, so the UAE is significantly behind when it comes to maternity leave.”

Dr Grummer-Strawn said 23 countries met the standards of having 60 per cent of children under the age of 6 months exclusively breastfed and suggested that marketing of formula milk should be curtailed.

“From a policy perspective I would put most attention on the fact that they need a stronger code on marketing for formula,” he said.

The scorecard also revealed that 50 per cent of mothers in the UAE breastfeed their children at 1 year old but this figure includes those who use a combination of formula, solid foods and breast milk.

In the eastern Mediterranean region the figure stands at 69 per cent and across the world at 74 per cent.

Globally, 45 per cent of mothers are still breastfeeding their children at the age of 2, while in the UAE only 29 per cent of mothers do so.

The data was collected before 2007, so the country also needs to urgently update its numbers if it wants to improve its breastfeeding rates.

Vilma Tyler, a senior nutrition adviser at Unicef’s regional office, worked on the Global Breastfeeding Scorecard.

“The UAE has not done any national nutritional survey in recent years to update this data,” Ms Tyler said. “We are trying to advocate the need to update data and look at national data as we are seeing an increase in obesity.

“We see people introducing their children to unhealthy habits like tea or sugar at an early age and this has huge implications on the growth and weight of a child. If not breastfed during the first two years of life, children have patterns of gaining weight.”

In Saudi Arabia, maternity leave of 10 weeks is believed to be partly responsible for a higher number of mothers breastfeeding. Fifty-nine per cent of babies there are being breastfed at 1 year of age.

Dr Neha Gami, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist at the HealthPlus network of specialty centres in Abu Dhabi, believes women can still breastfeed even if they are back at work.

“Once breastfeeding is established most women are able to continue even when they go back to work,” Dr Gami said.

She praised moves to extend the time given to women during working hours to breastfeed.

The UAE labour law says new mothers are entitled to two 30-minute breaks to breastfeed each day for the first 18 months, but since last year the Abu Dhabi Government has offered its female staff two hours of leave a day for one year.

The UAE figure is 6 per cent below the global average and 16 per cent below a target of 50 per cent by 2025