Abstract:

Department of Health (DOH) the regulator of Abu Dhabi region in UAE launched its Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) on March 21, 2016. There has been little success to this program in transforming the breastfeeding experience of Abu Dhabi mothers. This paper tries to analyze the attitude of Abu Dhabi mothers towards breastfeeding and to explore the factors that modulates maternal attitude. A quasi experimental design has been with mixed methods approach to guide this study. A convenient sampling of 384 women visiting maternal clinics were recruited to answer an IOWA questionnaire. The overall breastfeeding experience of UAE mothers are suboptimal. The UAE mother prefers formal feeding over breastfeeding due to their processional commitments. Multiple factors modulate maternal attitude to breastfeeding.

Keywords: breastfeeding, attitude, breastfeeding attitude, breastfeeding factors, breastfeeding practices.

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