Normalising Pumping Breast Milk In Pakistan! Ft. Sehrish Ali Khan

In this conversation I sit down with Sehrish Ali Khan, the owner of Spectra Baby Pakistan. This one is deeply personal for me because I exclusively pumped for my baby for seven months, and I know with absolute certainty that without my Spectra pump, I would not have been able to give him breast milk at all. Sehrish didn’t just build a business. She brought a product that can genuinely be a lifeline to a country where pumping is still whispered about, often misunderstood, and rarely discussed with the honesty it deserves.

We talk about her own painful start to motherhood, the chaos of launching a brand from abroad while a new mom herself, and why a good pump is not a luxury. It’s a tool that can change everything.

When nursing doesn’t go as planned

Sehrish remembers the early days with her son, Komal, vividly. She was in the US, expecting to nurse without issue. But two days in, something was off. “He was latching but he was not peeing enough. I took him to a pediatrician and she said, he is on the verge of getting dehydrated. You need to add a pump or start him on formula.” The shock of those words sent her reeling.

A lactation consultant soon diagnosed ineffective sucking, possibly due to a missed tongue tie. In that moment, Sehrish went from planning to nurse to becoming an exclusive pumper overnight. But the first pump she used made her cry. “I just could not deal with it. I remember thinking, kyun main? Why me?” Her supply dropped to almost nothing, barely an ounce a day. It was only when her OBGYN generously handed over her own Spectra pump that the tide turned. “I worked on it for two and a half, three weeks. I went from an ounce a day to like 28 ounces a day. That was basically the only reason I gave Komail breast milk for almost eight months.”

That transformation planted a seed. If one hospital-grade pump could rescue her supply and her sanity, how many other women were suffering without one?

The leap from personal pain to a business

When Sehrish visited Pakistan with a five-month-old, she realized there was no Spectra available. “I was like, how is this possible? Everyone is using Spectra in the US.” She knew the struggle she had been through, and she knew a huge gap existed here. The decision to launch the brand in Pakistan came from a raw, personal place. This wasn’t a calculated business plan. This was a woman who felt the fresh bruise of her own breastfeeding battle and couldn’t look away.

But the execution was daunting. A certified public accountant by profession, Sehrish had worked in investment banking, not in imports or retail. She pitched Spectra headquarters in Korea entirely over WhatsApp, never speaking on the phone. With the encouragement of her father, who does business in Pakistan, and her husband, she pushed forward while still living in the UAE. The distance was a constant hurdle. She relied on her father as a partner on paper to handle legalities she couldn’t manage from abroad.

Then came the real chaos. Her first shipment was stuck at the port for two months. Customs refused to release it, classifying the pumps as medical devices. “They said, we cannot import this into Pakistan. We had to register with the Drug Regulation Authority of Pakistan, get a whole new license, build a warehouse, bring on a pharmacist and a technician.” The months-long process nearly broke her. Later, customs changed their stance, declaring the pumps were not life-saving but just suction pumps, shifting the tax category. Sehrish faced it all without paying a single bribe. “I proudly say rishwat nahi di. I don’t go into that. But it is very, very difficult to do business.”

Busting the myths that hold women back

One of the biggest battles is simply awareness. So many women in Pakistan think their only options are direct nursing or formula. Sehrish and I agree: fed is best, but informed is best. If you don’t know about effective pumps, you might give up on breastfeeding when a mechanical solution exists.

A common myth is that pumping hurts. Sehrish is quick to clarify: “Pumping should never, ever, ever hurt, just like nursing should never hurt.” The main culprits are a wrong flange size, because many pumps come in only one size, or cranking the suction too high in desperation. Spectra carries five flange sizes, from 16mm to 32mm, because one size truly does not fit all. High suction can actually block your letdown because your body responds to stress. The milk won’t flow if you’re tense.

Another persistent resistance is cost. A quality pump like the Spectra may have an upfront price that feels steep, but Sehrish breaks down the math. “Take our most affordable pump, divide it by twelve months of use, and it’s around seven thousand rupees a month. A good formula can easily cost fifteen to twenty thousand a month.” And a breast pump is not a consumable. You can pass it down, resell it, or use it for your next baby. Formula money is gone. To make it even more accessible, Spectra now offers interest-free installments, absorbing the cost themselves. “I tell people, there is no excuse now,” she says.

I saw this math play out in my own life. I went back to work, I pumped at the bank, in the car, while running errands. Without that pump, I would have had to make a choice between my baby’s nourishment and my own career.

Pumping as an act of empowerment

We don’t talk enough about how isolating breastfeeding can be. Nursing rooms are rare, and public nursing is often met with discomfort. A good pump, especially with hands-free options, can give a woman her mobility back. Sehrish launched pumping bras and hands-free shield cups because women asked for them. I used those cups myself, pumping under a jacket while grocery shopping or sitting at my desk. It felt like reclaiming something.

Sehrish remembers a turning point. “I remember apologizing for pumping in front of my husband’s friends, and one woman said, ‘Why are you apologizing?’ I was like, what am I doing? You only apologize for something that’s wrong.” That shift, from shame to unapologetic ownership, is massive. When I pumped at the bank while sorting out business paperwork, I didn’t have to choose between being a mother and being an entrepreneur. I could be both in the same moment, guilt-free.

And it’s not just about convenience. These pumps save lives. I fed an NICU baby whose mother was hospitalized with my pumped milk, fresh and full of antibodies. Sehrish tells an even more moving story. A woman from a village reached out, terrified because her baby was surviving on cow’s milk and she couldn’t afford formula or a pump. Sehrish sent her a hospital-grade pump, no strings attached. The woman had almost no milk at first, but she kept pumping every three hours. “After three or four months, she messaged me with bottles full of milk. I cried. I felt like I touched someone’s life.”

The quiet motivation that keeps her going

Running this business as a woman in Pakistan has been grueling. Sehrish admits she’s had to develop a tougher skin, even calling herself a bully at times, because the environment demands it. “As a woman, I have felt in many instances that men try to take away your spark or control you. When I do market visits, I’ve felt that lack of being taken seriously.” But she holds onto her vision: to make Spectra the leading maternity supplier in Pakistan, to give women hands-free wireless pumps this year, to keep improving the quality of pumping life.

What truly fuels her are the messages. Mothers who write to say, “You helped me give my baby breast milk.” The woman at a Karachi festival who walked up to Sehrish nearly in tears just to thank her. “This is why,” Sehrish says. “I know my product makes a difference. I cannot close this brand down. It’s not just mothers, it’s the babies.”

This episode is not about pushing a product. It’s about pushing a conversation into the light. For every woman who has cried over a dwindling supply, who has felt broken because nursing didn’t work, who has hidden in a corner to pump, I hope this conversation is a hand on your shoulder. You are not alone, and there are tools that can help you write a different story. Informed is best, and now you know.