Breastfeeding struggle inspires mother in UAE to help others

DUBAI // Farangis Bakhtiar knows just how hard it is to breastfeed without the right information.

The 49-year-old mother-of-three, who lives in Dubai, struggled after the birth of her first two children.

“When I had my first child, 13 years ago, I had no idea breastfeeding would be such a challenge. I also didn’t have a point of reference – I was new to Dubai and just settling in,” she said.

“It was only after I got home and alone with my newborn that doubts started setting in – do I have enough milk, am I starving my baby, why is he nursing so often?”

The Iranian-Canadian, who has lived in the UAE since 1998, said: “I was overwhelmed and reached for formula, same for my second child.”

When pregnant with her third, a chance online encounter with a lactation consultant on an expat chat forum, meant she had a very different experience after the birth.

“She encouraged me to embark on a breastfeeding 101 journey – books, videos, seminars. I read, I asked and I observed. The day my third child was born I placed her on my breast and it all came together.”

Inspired by her experience, she set out to help others and, in 2006, set up an online support group called Breastfeeding Q&A UAE.

“I set it up because I thought if somebody can teach me how to breastfeed, I should be able to do this for others so they don’t have to go through what I did, which was basically to feel I can’t do something that comes so naturally,” Ms Bakhtiar said.

The group, which is on Facebook, now has more than 500 members.

Support for breastfeeding mothers has definitely improved in the UAE in the past 13 years, she said.

“Hospitals are now baby-friendly and mother-friendly. It has improved, but there’s room for a lot more improvement.”

Ms Bakhtiar said that the UAE is a breastfeeding-friendly country and she felt comfortable doing it in public. She advises mothers who are struggling to breastfeed to discuss their problem with a lactation consultant and to seek out other like-minded mothers.

One of the many benefits of breastfeeding was highlighted this week by researchers in the US who discovered a link between breastfeeding and higher intelligence levels.

A study published in Jama Pediatrics found that longer periods of breastfeeding was associated with a higher vocabulary test score at the age of three and with higher intelligence, on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, at seven.  

ecleland@thenational.ae