China's milk crisis--bf'ing nannies

[lovemybubus]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/wor...astfeeding.cnn

I just thought this was an interesting piece on CNN.com

Share your thoughts....

Peace!

[Jannah6]

I don't know. While it can be a good thing, it scares me a little. I just have thoughts of women getting pregnant, putting their babies in orphanges and becoming milk nannies because it pays good.

[lovemybubus]

Originally Posted by Jannah5

I don't know. While it can be a good thing, it scares me a little. I just have thoughts of women getting pregnant, putting their babies in orphanges and becoming milk nannies because it pays good.

Interesting, scary, I never thought of that. Do you think it could be possible that women, especially poor, powerless women could have their babies taken and be forced to become milk nannies for the wealthy?? Your post made me think of that.

[aurora_skys]

Originally Posted by lovemybubus

Interesting, scary, I never thought of that. Do you think it could be possible that women, especially poor, powerless women could have their babies taken and be forced to become milk nannies for the wealthy??

I think thats entirely possible. Not necessarily by the government but by the families. You know, like "Oh you worthless daughter in law who only gives us a daughter!" and baby is taken to orphanage and mother goes to make money as a milk nanny. I could totally see it happening, especially after watching a few documentaries on whats happening to women in China these days Theres a lot of abuse over there, the rural areas can get pretty bad for women

[Koloe]

Originally Posted by Jannah5

I don't know. While it can be a good thing, it scares me a little. I just have thoughts of women getting pregnant, putting their babies in orphanges and becoming milk nannies because it pays good.

I can definitely see that happening in China. But this is where the government needs to talk about the benifits of tandem nursing - especially to companies that plan to work with wet nurses. Hard to do in a country that frowns on having more than one child. China shouldn't be encouraging/coercing mothers to give up their "extra" babies either that would then need formula to survive.

[LittlePeanut]

Seems a bit sad all around. Maybe that mama will end up nursing her own offspring? Sad that a working wage pays so little that one might resort to getting pregnant and then giving the child up for adoption just to lactate. May be the gov't needs to step in and do a major BF campaign on the benefits of BF and risks of FF (like they aren't already all but too aware of this though huh?).

I guess it's great that it's an option though for those who can afford it and need it.

LP

[momma2libby]

I can't imagine having to give up a baby and realizing that it is one of those sick babies out there, while I was giving my milk that was meant for her to another baby for money. It's just so wrong on so many levels. I complain about living in the U.S. a lot but I am so thankful that I am here when I read about things like this. China's one child policy is truly unethical.

[Jannah6]

"China's one child policy is truly unethical."

:

[SwanMom]

Originally Posted by momma2libby

China's one child policy is truly unethical.

That's the bottom line. When you grow up knowing that if you have more than 1 you'll have to give it up (or abort it), then your perspective is a little different than ours. It's sad.

[Belle]

I saw that article too and it made me so sad. The milk nanny had to give up her daughter because it was her second child. But where did she go? To an orphanage? She has no idea where her child is and will never know. This is just awful. Its great that she's able to provide milk for other babies, but only the rich babies will be able to have momma's milk. Most babies will be exposed to the tainted milk. I read another article talking about how the formula was advertised as "better than breastmilk" so the mothers believed it and didn't bother to breastfeed. Now those poor babies are getting sick.

This whole situation is so sad in every way.

[hipmummy]

Originally Posted by Belle

I saw that article too and it made me so sad. The milk nanny had to give up her daughter because it was her second child. But where did she go? To an orphanage? She has no idea where her child is and will never know. This is just awful. Its great that she's able to provide milk for other babies, but only the rich babies will be able to have momma's milk. Most babies will be exposed to the tainted milk. I read another article talking about how the formula was advertised as "better than breastmilk" so the mothers believed it and didn't bother to breastfeed. Now those poor babies are getting sick.

This whole situation is so sad in every way.

: I saw the AP artocle as well. The mother said that she fed her baby the formula from day one because the advertisements said it was better than breastmilk. What about the WHO code???/
I was very happy happy to see the head of WHO say the only safe milk for mothers to feed their babies was their milk ,and that they were encouraging relactation first then screened milk nannys.

[meganmarie]

There was an article on this topic in the Wall St Journal yesterday - basically the title was about the resurgence of the wet-nursing tradition in China, and I expected it to be a positive story. But instead it was very sad. I can't link to the article but here are some highlights:

All of the wet nurses in the story were the rural poor, for whom wet nursing is now an incredible salary opportunity. As demand for wet-nurses has risen around the formula scandal, the wages have risen and agencies that normally provide maids are now providing wet nurses. So, okay - why not.

But then reading further it turns out most families won't allow the wet nurse to bring her own baby to this live-in job. One father was quoted as saying it would be totally unacceptable for a wet nurse to take care of her own baby ahead of his. So ironically, and horribly, a baby in poverty is being weaned to possibly contaminated formula in order for a wealthier family to get breastmilk. One prospective wet nurse said she would feed her 4-month old "rice milk" at home so she could take this new job and make money for the family. Another mom said she would miss her 2 month old, but would leave him behind with a grandparent.

Not once in this article was there any mention of pumping - why couldn't these women sell their excess breastmilk without leaving their own children behind? And no one in the situation seemed open to the idea that a mom could nurse two babies at the same time, the way moms of twins do.

There was one quote from a breastfeeding advocate who blamed the mis-information spread by formula companies for the decline in Chinese breastfeeding - the rates there are incredibly low. Most people in China believed - before now - that formula was the superior choice.

To back that up - one of the wet nurses interviewed says she makes a lot of milk and her own baby is really healthy and fat, so that proves her breastmilk must be "even as good as formula." Argh.

[gingerbane]

Originally Posted by meganmarie

Not once in this article was there any mention of pumping - why couldn't these women sell their excess breastmilk without leaving their own children behind?

It is IMPOSSIBLE to buy a pump in China. I lived in a city of 8 million - the capital of the Hubei province and all I could find was a tiny medela short-term use battery operated pump. It's just not an option

There was one quote from a breastfeeding advocate who blamed the mis-information spread by formula companies for the decline in Chinese breastfeeding - the rates there are incredibly low. Most people in China believed - before now - that formula was the superior choice.

This is very true. Also, the Chinese tend to believe that the fatter the baby the healthier and cuter it is. So often they over-feed babies formula by making them take the entire contents of a bottle whether they are hungry or not - it's very sad

To back that up - one of the wet nurses interviewed says she makes a lot of milk and her own baby is really healthy and fat, so that proves her breastmilk must be "even as good as formula." Argh.

Overall I found the article very interesting. The day before I had heard of this. Wet nurses are being paid 20,000RMB or roughly $2,847/month USD. I would be a wet nurse for that amount of money.

[Mandynee22]

Originally Posted by Jannah5

I don't know. While it can be a good thing, it scares me a little. I just have thoughts of women getting pregnant, putting their babies in orphanges and becoming milk nannies because it pays good.

I haven't read the link but I did hear about this on the wall street journal radio show. They said that some employers don't let the wet nurses take their kids to work and they quoted one saying "if my employer won't let me take my baby to work with me, she can have rice milk or something at home" Her baby was 2 months old. :-(

[leila1213]

What a disaster all around! That is a horrible situation for everyone involved. I can totally see people leaving their own children behind to go nurse someone else's for such a good wage. What the formula companies have done/are doing is criminal. Why are there no breastpumps??

[sapphire_chan]

To make things even worse is the reason the milk was tainted in the first place. I still can't believe they deliberately added things to the milk to make it seem more nutritious than it was.

The whole situation is:

[Lizbiz]

I live in Nanjing - a city of 6 million about 2 hours from Shanghai... and I've only ever seen one other mother breastfeeding in the last 7 months. It's rare. Our ayi (nanny) thought it was strange that we breastfeed our son, but she did actually know that breastmilk was better.

This news does not surprise me at all. There is a pecking order here - a class system of sorts, and people just do what they must to get ahead. Poor people can't afford to be picky about whether or not they breastfeed their babies. That sounds harsh - but to them, it's better to give up breastfeeding in the hopes that the salary they will make as a wet nurse may give their children better opportunities later on. The tragedy is that the system allows (in fact encourages) these kinds of practices. Another example of a flawed system: Many many children live far from their parents, who may be working in a bigger city and sending money home to the village. The children can't live in the city with their parents for a couple of reasons. There's no one to look after them while Mom and Dad work. And, if the parents aren't legal residents in their new city, their children can not attend school. So... the family is split up. It's so common that people are often SURPRISED that we are raising our son.

It's absolutely tragic and people suffer because of it. The government is so anti-family here. It's treacherous and yet, people are so accustomed here. We wonder why there is no massive outrage against these policies and those like them that destroy family life and the very lives of their children, but if it's just always been this way... This is just the way things are.

I am hopeful that people see us as a family, living together - and see our healthy (if "too thin" by Chinese standards) son breastfeeding, and see a different way.

Breastfeeding rates aren't going to rise here until childrearing isn't seen as a massive inconvenience (every time we tell people we raise our own child, their response is something along the lines of, "How difficult, what trouble you have!"). I try to respond that it's challenging but the best and most rewarding thing I do. BF'ing also needs to be supported in the workplace - I can't imagine the gov't passing pumping laws to protect BF'ing working mamas!