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Opinion | China wants to raise its birth rate, but has missed new mothers’ every need
- China has been taking measures to encourage couples to have children, offering incentives ranging from cash to homebuyer subsidies
- However, there is not enough information on what to expect and how to raise a child, not much community help and the ‘birth reward’ doesn’t go very far
The second day after I gave birth, in February, I woke up in hospital to find my breasts as hard as rocks. I could hardly move my arms or get out of bed, because every movement jolted a muscle around my chest, resulting in excruciating pain.
I had to shout for help. The hospital sent in a masseur. Two sweaty hours later, I regained myself somewhat.
It is a natural process immediately after birth, when your body notices the changes and your breasts fill with milk – in my case, by so much that they felt rock hard. The only thing to do to relieve the pain is to constantly breastfeed your baby.
But I did not know that then. Nor did I have any experience of taking care of a newborn, but there I was, in hospital, with my husband on a sofa and our baby girl in the cot next to us.
She started screaming at 3am. Then again at 5am. We frantically rang the bell for the nurse, but there were only four of them for an entire floor of 17 screaming babies.
When I was pregnant, my husband and I read up on birth and childcare, but we found things very different in practice.
