Introduction. The objective of this study was to assess the perceivednegative impact on mother–child attachment of raising children with thehelp of foreign maids, as practised in Arab Gulf countries.Materials and methods. A descriptive cross-sectional study wasconducted. A convenience sample was recruited from June 2010 toDecember 2010 from three tertiary hospitals and shopping centres. Fivehundred questionnaires were distributed. Of these, 336 with complete datasets were analysed. The study was approved by the Institutional ReviewBoard of the King Fahad Medical City. The analysed data were tabulated inthe form of descriptive statistics.Results. Eighty per cent of households had a maid, but only 50% of mothershad careers. The proportion of babies who were not bottle-fed was 31.6%,with 15.7% exclusively breast-fed. Of the 52.8% of babies who were bothbreast- and bottle-fed, most were usually bottle-fed. The proportions ofparticipants who reported high and low levels of mother–child attachmentwere 61.9% and 15.6% respectively. Although 22.6% declined to commenton this, questioning revealed a low level of mother–child attachment inthis group, and therefore low mother–child attachment totalled 38.2%(15.6% + 22.6%). In 45.2% of cases, mothers stated that bonding wasnot affected by the maid, whereas 30% stated that bonding was affected.Although 24.2% declined to express their view, further questioningconfirmed their discomfort in answering this question; this suggested thatthey did perceive a lack of bonding, and therefore that this affected a total of54.2% (24.2% + 30%) of households.Discussion. Although only half of the mothers had careers, a largerproportion of households had maids, indicating an overdependence ofmothers on domestic aides. The very low proportion of babies who wereexclusively breast-fed would suggest that mother–child bonding wasaffected in a large proportion of households that bottle-fed. However,about two-thirds of the mothers claimed high levels of mother–childbonding, whereas only one-sixth felt that bonding was adversely affected.The remainder were reluctant to discuss this point, suggesting that theproblem of low levels of mother–child bonding exists. The study found thatalmost half of mother–child bonding relationships could be impaired by thepresence of maids.Conclusion. This study indicates that mother–child attachment is adverselyaffected by the presence of maids, which could prove detrimental to thepsychosocial development of affected children and the population of the ulfCooperation Council countries in the long term. Family-friendly work policies for mothers and education on responsible parenting are recommended.