Babies and mothers benefit from baby-friendly space in Fariman refugee settlement

Children are joyfully playing with their new toys and their loud happy laughter can be heard across the corridor. Some children are climbing the slide, some are in the ball pool and others are happily swinging. On the other side of the room, a mother is putting down her baby in a cot after she has breastfed her. This is a UNICEF-supported baby friendly corner benefiting over 80 mothers and their toddlers in Farmian refugee settlement in Khorasan Razavi province. This corner, equipped with toys, baby-friendly chairs and tables and a refrigerator, functions as a playroom for children to play and spend some joyful time with their peers while their mothers are breastfeeding.

UNICEF supported establishing this corner through a joint effort with the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA) and Relief International (RI) in 2023 to provide a safe and private space for lactating mothers to breastfeed.

Breastfeeding guarantees a safe, nutritious and accessible food source for babies and young children. It offers a robust line of defense against disease and all forms of child malnutrition. Breastfeeding also acts as the first vaccine for babies, protecting them from common childhood illnesses. Yet the emotional distress, physical exhaustion, lack of space and privacy, and poor sanitation experienced by mothers in emergency settings, including refugee crises, mean that many babies are missing out on the benefits of breastfeeding to help them survive.