<Hi, All:
This time, I'll post some about our culture related to breastfeeding.
In Taiwan, after labor, women are allowed to get rid of all the house chores
during the first month. The first 28 days after labor is a very important
period for women. There is an old saying,<if you don't take care of your
body at this period, you will get back pain and become older more quickly in
the future.> There are many prohibitions in this period like:
You can't drink water , otherwise your tummy will protrude out later .
You can't wash your hair, otherwise you will get headache frequently.
You can't eat "cold" food(such as watermelon, vegetables, etc.), or your
breastmilk will become thin and the baby will get diarrhea.
etc., etc......
We have to teach women that although they are not suggested to drink water,
there are a lot of other fluid available to maintain their fluid
requirement. "Cold"(Yin) food is not allowed, that's OK, we have many other
warm(Yung) food available. In the "Milk, Money and Madness ' by Naomi
Baumslag and Dia L. Michels, there are pages discussing the galactogogues in
different cultures. Soup made from pigs' hooves, cooked with peanuts,chicken
boiled with rice wine, oyster cooked with sesame oil, and fish soup are the most
common galactogogues in Taiwan. Believe it or not, they really work! (I
think they not only give women the confidence, but also contain large amount
of energy, protein and fluid)
During that one month, women are allowed to take rest as much as possible.
Usually, it will be the grandmother of the baby who will take care of both
the mother and the baby. The work of the mother is to eat, to feed the baby
and to take rest. It should be the most supportive environment for mother to
breastfeed her baby. But now, some grandmothers think that to breastfeed,
their daughters have to wake up frequently and can't take a complete rest.
Bottle feeding can be handled by the grandmothers so the mothers can take a
real rest. So the grandmother will ask her daughter not to breastfeeding. We
have to emphasize the benefits of breastfeeding to the mother in such case.
Some of the grandmothers think that the daugher-in-law may not have enough
milk for their grandchildren. And they think that formula-fed children are
heavier and healthier than the breastfed children. So they will also ask the
daughter-in-law not to breastfeed. In such case, we have to emphasize the
benifits of breastfeeding to the children.
For those parents without the help of their parents or other relatives(it
becomes more and more now), the mothers will go to the postpartum period
center.(I don't really know how to translate it). In the center, every mother
has her own room or shares with another mother. There is a nursery taking
care of the baby just like the hospital. The center will provide nutrient
foods for the mothers. Most of the center will have nurses bottle feed the
babies. Such centers are very helpful for the nuclear family with a busy
husband. But most of them do not take care of breastfeeding at all.THe
monthers can't get helpful support from the center.
Most of the time, mothers and babies will stay there for 28 days. If the
mother return to work, then the baby will stay in the center for one more
month, or he will be send to the nannies. In Taiwan, we used to be a big
family system. I live with my mother-in-law after my first child was born.
Before this, she lived with my brother-in-law and helped my sister-in-law
taking care of their three children. I am fortunate enough to have she lives
with me. Most of our family become a nuclear family now, many parents are
both working. After the maternal leave(6 weeks for those work in public
institutes and 4 weeks for those work in private companies), they may send
the babies to the nannies(not wet nursing but formula feeding now) near by.
The babies may stay at the nannies' house at day time, and back to the
parents at night. Or, some babies may stay at the nannies* house for the
whole week, and back to their parents only on Saturday or Sunday. ( We work
five and a half day in Taiwan).
For those parents who can't afford or who can't find the suitable nannies,
they may sent their babies to their grandparents. And the grandparents may
live 100 to 200 kilometers away from their house. The parents will go to
visit the babies every one week or one month. And after the age of 3 or 4,
when the babies are old enough to go to the kindergarten, the parents will
bring them back. So, I'm really in good luck to be able to watch my girls
growing up just by my side. Working mothers with few and poor facilities of
child care are really hard to keep on breastfeeding their children. I only
know one reporter of a newspaper who really did it. She worked in
Taichung(in the middle of Taiwan) and her child stayed in Taipei(north of
Taiwan),150 kilometers apart. She expressed the breastmilk and brought to
Taipei once
every week. She really worked hard!
Our culture is changing, from large family to nuclear family, from rural
life to urban life, from house to work, and from breastfeeding to bottle
feeding. It takes a long way to bring back the breastfeeding culture.
Chao-Huei Chen M.D<[log in to unmask]>
Department of Pediatrics,Taichung Veterans General Hospital
160, sec 3, Chung Kang Rd,Taichung 407,Taiwan
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