Breast Massage Training (Photo : Weibo/315Org)
Mothers in China are pushing to regulate the booming breastfeeding massage business. The call came amid report of a Xiamen woman who suffered from mastitis because of improper treatment.
What’s on Weibo reported that a growing number of lactating Chinese women, instead of going to hospitals if they have difficulty in releasing milk or suffer from swollen breasts, turn to breastfeeding masseuses. Most of them are middle-aged women who do not have higher education or medical training.
Some have taken a few courses and once they acquire their basic massage certificate, go around and give away calling cards to expectant mothers in hospitals. The World Health Organization’s recommendation is for mothers to breastfeed exclusively for the first six months and continue doing so for two more years.
China has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Only about 30 percent of new mothers in China breastfeed exclusively but majority prefer to feed their infants baby formula. In the 1970s, breastfeeding rates declined in the country when baby formula manufacturers pushed their products in Chinese hospitals. As a result, over one-third of newborns in China are given baby formula as their first feed.
Chinese mothers have complained about unskilled breastfeeding masseuses who overcharge. The standard fee for a one-hour breast massage could be up to 600 yuan, reported Xinhua News.
But due to insufficient medical training, safety of mothers and their babies are placed at risk. Wang Chao from Hebei Province, for instance, had eight masseuses who experimented with her sore breasts before she found a skilled masseuse. When she noticed that after not breastfeeding her baby for a short period of time, her milk quality deteriorated and her breast became painful and swollen.
Wang went to a local hospital where she was prescribed antibiotics, but it did not work. In a worst-case scenario, Wang was told she might need to undergo surgery. But on her ninth attempt, she found a skilled breastfeeding masseuse who helped solve her lactation issue.
But one woman from Xiamen was not fortunate as Wang because she spent thousands of yuan on breast massages to ensure a good milk flow, but due to wrong treatment, she instead had mastitis, an infection of the breast tissue, which results in breast pain, swelling, warmth and redness.
Women of China said that other factors such as absence of societal support system, including short length of maternity leave for private sector employees and lack of breastfeeding facilities contribute to the breastfeeding problems of new mothers in China.
