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July 23, 2016

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Paying for pampering after baby arrives

WELCOMING a baby into the family used to be exhilarating and chaotic for traditional Chinese households. Relatives came to take care of both the baby and mother for her first month at home.

But old traditions are fading. Families today are willing to pay high prices for professional postnatal pampering.

Vina Yan, 33, booked into a luxurious Shanghai postnatal center with her newborn. She plans to spend six weeks there, having a good rest and leaving all the other infant-care duties to professional staff.

For 180,000 yuan (US$26,865), the center provides accommodation, meals designed by nutritionists, 24-hour baby-care by professional nurses and various classes for the mothers, including yoga, health basics and even baking.

All the babies are kept in a nursery room at the center. They are taken to their mothers at breast-feeding times. Two nurses are assigned for each two or three babies. The new mother and family can visit the baby at the nursery room any time they want. There is even space in Yan’s spacious room if family members want to sleep over.

“I don’t have to worry about anything except for taking a good rest in the month,” Yan says. “Everything is perfectly arranged.”

It’s quite a change from the traditional ritual of zuo yuezi, or “sitting month,” when new mothers were surrounded by relatives who took care of the baby and all household tasks.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, new mothers need to rest and recover during a period when they are susceptible to “pathogenic energies.” The course of zuo yuezi was pretty regimented: New mothers had to stay indoors, not bathing, washing their hair or even brushing their teeth. They had to eat a diet high in protein.

The job of taking care of the new mother and baby fell largely on grandmothers who were well experienced in the rituals of postpartum care. Aunts and sisters also pitched in, often creating a chaotic household of do-gooders.

About a dozen or so years ago, the tradition began to weaken with the employment of yuesao, or “one-month maids.” They were retained as paid helpers for the family in the first month after birth.

That led to the development of more elaborate services.

By 2014, 70 of the more than 760 registered postnatal centers in China were located in Shanghai, according to a report entitled “Research and Investment Prospect Analysis on Postnatal Centers in China 2016-22.”

It estimated that the industry will be valued at 11 billion yuan by 2019, growing from 4.2 billion yuan in 2014.

Numbers of postnatal centers are expected to grow after China changed its family planning policy last year to allow each couple to have two children. That is expected to increase births this year by up to 30 percent, based on numbers so far collected by maternity hospitals.

“I think the growing popularity of postnatal centers resulted from a general change of perceptions about the regimes in yuezi, and not just for the sake of convenience,” says Lu Wenjuan, director of the nursing department of the Lake Malaren International Postpartum Care Center, which is affiliated to the Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Children Healthcare Hospital.

“Rather than blindly following traditions that preach a long list of dos and don’ts, without understanding why they were necessary, most new mothers today tend to seek professional services based on modern healthcare norms,” says Lu.

Established in late 2013, the Lake Malaren center handles between 30 and 40 clients a month. It is considered a mid-priced postnatal facility in Shanghai, charging from 40,000 yuan to 70,000 yuan, depending on the level of service sought.

Basic services include a certificated “one-month maid” taking care of the baby in the mother’s room, meals designed by a professional nutritionist, daily health checks on both mother and baby, regular consultations from traditional Chinese medicine physicians, and health-related courses.

The more expensive packages provide additional services like spas and recovery treatment for the belly and pelvis.

The center’s proximity to the International Peace Maternity and Children’s Care Hospital helps funnel business to the center.

Lucy Liu, 29, booked into the center after reading about it in brochures provided by the maternity hospital. About 40 percent of the center clients come via that.

“This is my first child, and I don’t know how to take care of a baby,” says Liu. “It’s not that my mother doesn’t want to help out, but we both think professional care is desirable.”

Apart from taking a good rest, Liu says she is learning the essentials of baby care. She watches how the “one-month maid” bathes the child and gives it massages. She is also given frequent updates on the health of the baby.

For some, a postnatal center is a convenient way to escape potential family quarrels.

Helen Xue, 31, was planning to return home after giving birth and hired a “one-month maid” to help out. She changed her mind two months before delivery, when her mother and mother-in-law came to blows about postnatal menus.

“They were both firm in their beliefs, but I wasn’t interested in either of their approaches,” says Xue. “So I booked into a postnatal center and let a professional nutritionist shut them up.”

Xue says she was also happy to escape the “tortures” of the past, like not being able to brush her teeth, wash her hair or take a bath for that first month after giving birth.

“The traditional regime may have made sense in older times when facilities were so poor, but that’s no longer the case today,” says Xue. “I cannot convince my mother or mother-in-law of that, but the nurses here can.”

A growing number of mothers having their second child are also booking themselves into postnatal centers.

Nancy He, 31, went to a center after giving birth to her second son.

She says she endured the “sitting month” with her first child at home, with the help of a “one-month maid” and her mother, but she didn’t think that arrangement would work when the second child arrived.

“Even with help, it would be hard to get proper rest with my elder boy interrupting me all the time at home,” she says.

During her one-month stay at the center, the grandparents took care of her older son.

“Going to the postnatal center was the best choice for the whole family,” she says.

The burgeoning postnatal care industry is not without its problems. There have been scandals related to infectious diseases at some centers and facilities found in violation of safety and health standards.

Last November, the China Maternal and Child Health Association issued a guideline on postpartum recovery services. It advised that maternity care centers should be within a 15-minute drive from hospitals and have at least 12 beds. All staff must be certified.

Liu Ling, secretary-general with the National Technical Committee on Health Care Service, said a national standard on maternity care centers is in the pipeline to ensure the sound development of the industry.

In postnatal centers charging prices from 30,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan per month, more people are choosing lower-priced options.

“There might be a prevailing misunderstanding that those choosing postnatal centers are all wealthy people,” says Lake Malaren’s Lu. “But most mothers we get are ordinary middle-class people who are aware of maternity health. They care about the money, but they are willing to pay if they consider it worth the cost.”




 

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