Sun, Jun 10, 2018 page15

• Yoga, cheesecake for moms in plush ‘sitting centers’

  • By Peter Stebbings / AFP, SHANGHAI
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  Yoga class starts shortly, the pristine massage center is open for business and cheesecake is served on a platter of pastries and fruit.

  And then the muffled cry of a baby emerges down the hallway.

  The setting might resemble a five-star hotel, but this is a “sitting center” on Shanghai’s outskirts where mothers pay up to 70,000 yuan (US$10,895) per month to stay with their newborns.

  

  A yoga instructor teaches new mothers exercises at the Lake Malaren International Postpartum Care Center in Shanghai on May 17.

  Photo: AFP

  Chinese culture dictates that mothers confine themselves after giving birth, known as zuoyuezi (坐月子, “sitting month”).

  Such confinement was once widely practiced in many areas of the world and continues to be popular in other parts of Asia.

  However, as incomes rise in China, the sitting month no longer means being cooped up at home without bathing or visitors.

  PROFESSIONAL CARE

  “We prefer to find a professional facility to take care of our baby. We have no experience in taking care of the baby or ourselves after birth,” 34-year-old first-time mother Yu Xueting said, her weeks-old son Kangkang lying contentedly beside her.

  Both appeared well looked after at the private Lake Malaren International Postpartum Care Center in a modern building embellished with turrets and intended to mimic old northern European architecture.

  Mother and son are accompanied at all times by a nanny, who sleeps in the same room. Numerous specialists, nurses and cooks are on hand.

  A photography studio captures those precious early days of life, while a “Mother’s Classroom” runs lectures for new moms to learn how to care for their baby — and themselves.

  Dads can stay too, but usually just visit.

  Yu, who works for information technology firm HP Inc, said the lengthy stay “liberates our family.”

  “If we do it at home, then the whole family can’t sleep well. I can take maternity leave, but my husband needs to go to work,” she said.

  TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

  The sitting month stretches back to about 200 BC and the Han Dynasty, Hong Kong University School of Nursing lecturer Elizabeth Hui-Choi (許蔡惠卿) said.

  Empresses would be well looked after following childbirth, including a special diet and lifestyle to restore their “broken” body and prevent future illness, Hui-Choi said.

  “They believed that treating the mother well would also bring good things to the baby, and it is still believed to be that way,” she said.

  Traditional Chinese medicine “also plays a very important part” in how most Chinese women still think after childbirth, dictating that they should eat more of certain foods, such as ginger, and cut out others, such as fruit, Hui-Choi said.

  Some women stop showering, washing their hair, or even brushing their teeth for the month, and would not venture outside — traditional Chinese medicine says these can upset the body’s balance, she added.

  Yu did not wash her hair for a week, but doctors told her that was unnecessary and the center recommends a more scientific approach that blends traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

  Hui-Choi, a registered midwife trained in Western medicine, said some of the old rituals are unhygienic and that studies suggest strict observance of tradition can make women feel isolated, risking postpartum depression.

  ‘EXPLOSIVE’ GROWTH

  The number of sitting centers in China has “exploded” from dozens in 2000 to more than 4,000 last year, the Chinese state-run Legal Daily said.

  One reason is that Chinese today are now giving birth later in life — meaning grandparents are older and might not be able to help as much.

  Chinese are also increasingly able to afford places like the Shanghai center, where staff fuss over every baby sniffle.

  Demand has also ramped up since China began phasing out its one-child policy in 2015. Families can be too stretched with their first child to cope with a second, especially if there is no extended family to help out.

  Self-proclaimed zuoyuezi experts and sitting centers or are found almost anywhere that ethnic Chinese are found, including in North America, making it a big business with global reach.

  However, in Britain doctors recently warned about the dangers of Chinese mothers locking themselves away after childbirth, fearing postpartum depression might go unnoticed or moms might avoid seeing a doctor for physical problems.

  ‘SIX MEALS A DAY’

  Xu Jingfang, baby son Kirk gurgling away beside her, said her British husband was initially skeptical.

  “At first he thought it was a weird idea. He said: ‘You’re having a baby, not heart surgery,’” said 30-year-old Xu, one of about 80 other mothers at the Shanghai establishment.

  “All our friends and relatives” now opt for such care, said Xu, who scouted similar centers, including one in a high-end hotel.

  “It’s much easier. Here, you’ve got 24-hour care for the baby and someone to cook for you six meals a day,” she added, a phalanx of caretakers on hand to whisk Kirk away at the first hint of a whimper.

  While her parents and grandparents did not wash for weeks after birth, they accept that times have changed, Xu said.

  So, will it be a shock to finally go home?

  “I’ve hired a nanny at home. I guess life will be more interesting than here — sometimes I do get a bit bored — but also tougher,” she said.
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