‘A total lie’: False ads, bad advice puts China’s mums off breastfeeding

This photo taken on August 5, 2020 shows Wang Chao feeding her child at her guitar store in Shanghai. — AFPUnregulated, aggressive promotion of formula milk, poor medical advice, short maternity leave and workplaces hostile to nursing mothers mean China has among the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world and is falling well short of its own targets, experts warn.

Only 12 percent of babies in China are born in hospitals where staff have lactation knowledge, according to UNICEF. “Infant formula is now advertised as having the same nutrients as breast milk, which is a total lie,“ Fang adds.“Most women bring milk powder tins when they come to give birth. They are afraid they might not produce enough milk. It’s a myth propagated by the formula lobby,“ explains Liu Hua, a nurse at Beijing Obstetric and Gynaecology hospital.

“In the first few days after giving birth, my mother-in-law blamed me for not having enough milk, and insisted I give formula. It made me doubt myself. I got very depressed. I even thought of committing suicide... I felt so inadequate” recalled Ran Qian, a mother from Suzhou. There are no figures yet for 2020, but Fang and other experts say the current target to have 50 percent of babies breastfed for their first six months will be missed.

Breastfeeding also protects the mother from diabetes, breast and ovarian cancers, heart disease and postpartum depression, UNICEF said.Nursing mother Wang Chao said she was heckled at a restaurant when nursing her four-month-old by a man who thought it was “unsightly”, while Shanghai-based mother Chao Anya was branded a prostitute by a stranger who accused her of “flaunting nipples” as she breastfed her baby on a bus.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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