Thursday, 12 September 2013

Breastfeeding in Qatar

Some of you starting a practicum in labour and delivery or postpartum this month might be interested in a symposium we attended about breastfeeding last night. The event was put on by the Qatar Foundation and the Sidra Medical and Research Centre. Sidra is also the same of a brand spanking new hospital currently being built on the outskirts of the city. If my memory serves me, I think the hospital is going to cost somewhere in the area of $7 billion dollars. The hospital will be an all-digital education, research and teaching facility for women and children that follows the U.S. model of care. According to a splashy handout I received at the symposium, Sidra "will have 2.5 staff for each patient, allowing for individualized and specialist care." Whaaaaaa??


Here's some of what I learned at the conference: currently, only about 11% of women in Qatar breastfeed and Sidra is hoping to increase that number to 25%. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a global breastfeeding target of 50%. Currently, only one-third of babies in the world are exclusively breastfed for the first six months. There are lot of reasons why women don't breastfeed here, including lack of education and support before, during and after birth, cultural attitudes, attitudes and education of physicians and nurses and length of maternity leave. In Qatar maternity leave is 50 days at 100% pay. A lot of moms here turn to formula shortly after giving birth because there is widespread belief that formula is better for babies than breast milk. Many women also find breastfeeding challenging and painful.  Studies have shown that breastfeed babies have lower rates of obesity and allergies and that breast milk is rich in antioxidant, antibacterial and immune-boosting properties. These are just a few of the benefits, there are a whole whack of others, including for mom and baby.

Organizers of the symposium also spoke of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), a global effort launched by WHO and Unicef to increase the number of hospitals that implement practices that support, protect and promote breastfeeding.

I also learned about something called the International Code of Marketing Break-milk Substitutes, which draws attention to ways that the infant formula industry influences both health care providers and consumers to support the use of formula over breast milk. Keep in mind that formula is sometimes necessary when babies have trouble breastfeeding and when moms can't produce enough milk (especially when there is more than one mouth to feed!). However, I have heard that the number of breast milk banks in North America is increasing.

According to the code, formula companies are not allowed to:
-give free formula samples to new moms
-promote their products in health care facilities
-allow company representatives to advise women
-put pictures idealizing formula feeding, including photos of infants, on the labels of products

In addition:
-information to health workers should be scientific and factual
-unsuitable products, such as sweetened condensed milk should not be given to babies
-financial assistance from the infant feeding industry may interfere with professional's unequivocal support for breastfeeding.

I learned from my colleagues that the Calgary region doesn't officially support the use of pacifiers  because there is a concern that parents will ignore the baby's hunger cues. Of course, it's still the parents' decision, you just aren't likely to see a nurse suggesting parents put a pacifier in the baby's mouth.

Something really interesting was that, seated at our table was a blond-hair, blue-eyed woman from a small town in Texas wearing a full burka. Now there's something you don't see everyday, I said to myself. I thought it would be difficult to understand her, with her mouth covered, but actually it wasn't. She was so interesting! She had come to Qatar many years ago to help open a school for autistic children, met her husband and now had four children. Now she works as a lactation consultant and a doula, which is similar to a midwife. I asked her how popular home births are here in Qatar. She told us that it is illegal for a doctor or nurse to attend a home birth.


Burka

Did I mention this symposium was at the Four Season? Curses for only bringing my Birkenstocks!! At least I looked a littler fancier from the ankles up (thankfully the tablecloth was long!).



The hotel has it's own private beach which non-guests can pay to use (about $50 for the day).






 "Don't photograph my shoes!"


Back at our apartment, our staircase doesn't really compare but what the hey!


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