Office breastfeeding stations a big breakthrough for UAE’s working mums

Women returning to work after giving birth could now have designated breast pumping rooms in some UAE offices, thanks to a joint initiative between Philips Avent and Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group.

Sarah Pervez, a supply chain executive with Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, says she will use the breastfeeding room being launched her company and Philips Avent once she delivers her second baby this end oShow more

Sarah Pervez gave up breastfeeding soon after she returned to work with her first child. But she has no intention of doing the same thing second time around.

“I breastfed for three months exclusively and then after that in bits and pieces, because when I started work it became difficult,” says Ms Pervez, 29, from Pakistan, a supply chain executive with Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group and mother to a two-year-old son. Her second son is due next week.

“I tried to keep going, but once you stop feeding regularly it starts to fade away and it is easier to use the bottle. This time it is going to be much easier for us because we have the facility for it.”

The facility she is talking about – a breast pumping room – was built thanks to a collaboration between Philips Avent and the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group with an aim to install the rooms in offices across the UAE, including their own.

“Philips Avent got in touch with us and said they would like to partner with a private sector company willing to share the cost in terms of this initiative in rolling out these expressing lounges,” says Muna Al Gurg, retail director at Al Gurg Group.

“Our CSR department came to me and said ‘do you think this is a sensitive topic?’ and I said ‘Absolutely not, this is a topic that we need to speak about. Let’s do this’.”

The initiative, part of Philips’ commitment to improve the lives of 3 billion people by 2025, was devised after the company conducted a survey of breastfeeding mothers in the UAE.

“We realised that some of the results were quite alarming because on one side the awareness that breastfeeding is the best option for a newborn is very high, around 95 per cent of mothers thought that. But at the same time nearly 50 per cent of women stop breastfeeding because they return to work,” says Vincenzo Ventricelli, vice president and market leader at Philips Personal Health for the Middle East and Turkey.

More than half of the women they surveyed in the UAE, at 60 per cent, said they were not aware that they are entitled to pumping breaks by law. And 70 per cent of women said there was no dedicated space or room to allow them to express their milk in the office.

“The initiative that we launched is our answer to all these challenges. And the objective is to help the mother to breastfeed longer after they return to work,” says Mr Ventricelli.

A working woman nursing her child is entitled – during the 18 months following the delivery – to two additional breaks each day for this purpose, neither of which should exceed half an hour (30 minutes each). However, many companies let employees combine each 30 minutes into an hour to reduce the working day, according to blog Emirates Diary. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have now been implementing new rulings allowing workers at government entities in the emirates to have two hours of daily leave for the first year. The law also extended paid maternity leave for those workers from 45 days to three months.

The 2 by 3 metre pumping rooms, which cost around Dh1,000 each and can be slotted into a company’s spare room, include a comfortable chair, a sink and a fridge to store the milk, along with Philips Avent products including a breast pump, steriliser, pads and other breastfeeding accessories.

“The first 10 companies that apply have all the set-up of the facility plus the consultation for free from us and from Al Gurg. And then for the companies after the 10 there will be a discount. The Philips products will be given for free for all the companies,” says Mr Ventricelli.

The initiative launched last month, and within days three companies had applied. They aim to install at least 10 breast pumping rooms across the UAE.

At the moment, there are only two – one in Philips and one in Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, but they have already made a big difference to the lives of breastfeeding employees of the companies.

Marivic Fabia, 36, a communications specialist with Philips from the Philippines, used to search for a free meeting room to express her milk for her one-year-old daughter, an experience she found so stressful it would sometimes reduce her to tears.

“Everything became so convenient,” she says of the new facility. “The availability of usable milk storage, a breast pump and breast pads are also a lifesaver for a busy mum like me who sometimes forgets my own materials.”

Ms Al Gurg, 42, a mother of one whose daughter is now an adult, was studying when she gave birth at 19, so did not suffer the same constraints as women returning to work after maternity leave. But she understands how women feel.

“Research has shown if you take care of the small things like this you increase employee productivity,” she says. “There is more loyalty towards the company and these are things that encourage women not to think twice about coming back into the workforce.”

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