Beijing moms can't find quiet, clean places to breast-feed

Cathy Bi, a Chinese mother of a 1-year-old, did not struggle much with the idea of breast-feeding at the time when her son was born. But since then, she has grappled with the issue when faced with a hungry child and no place to breast-feed.

One such instance was in September of last year, when she and her family rode the subway home after a family outing. On the way, her son, about six months old then, cried out in hunger. The baby made a scene despite Bi's most comforting words. To calm him down, she overcame her shyness and breast-fed him on the subway.

"There was not much else I could do then. He was too young to talk to," Bi, 32, recalled, admitting her first time breast-feeding in public felt embarrassing.

"I tried to ignore the public and told myself that none of the passengers would know me once I got off the train," said Bi. "Luckily with nursing bras, little [of my breast] was exposed."

In a lot of countries, breast-feeding in public is considered a natural part of motherhood and has nothing to do with sexuality. However, the debate still rages on, with many people holding negative views about it. At the middle of the argument are new mothers, who have been encouraged by doctors to breast-feed their kids until 24 months, but then must deal with the fact that there are few places to breast-feed or breast pump in Beijing.

To the knowledge of Wang Lijuan, who worked as a baby caregiver for 10 years, the few places offering lactation rooms include the Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing Children's Hospital and several shopping malls. However, such facilities are hard to find in parks and railway stations where there is still a need.

"What feeding mothers need is a private room which can help protect their privacy and can make them feel at ease," said Wang, who now works with the marketing office of Emma Home, a care center for mothers and children in Shunyi district. The center has a lactation room open to visiting mothers. In the simply decorated room, a chair and coat hanger is enough, she noted.

"A mother's mood, such as anxiety and shyness, can affect the milk secretion," she noted. Compared with breast-feeding in an open and noisy environment, "mothers who have a private space tend to be in a more relaxed mood. Therefore, the milk quality is better and the children will be healthier. "

For the lack of such facilities, a lot of breast-feeding mothers try to avoid going out during the time when the child needs to be fed, said Jiang Jun, mother of a 2-year-old.

"There are changing rooms in some shopping centers or parks, but they can be dirty," she said.

Some mothers breast-feed or breast pump in public toilets, but Bi said she found the facilities generally too dirty for her to feel at ease.

In August of last year, a group of 30 nursing mothers staged a five-minute breast-feeding protest in front of a shopping mall in Wuhan, Hubei Province, calling for more public facilities for them to nurse their babies. Similar protests have been staged in other Chinese cities including Beijing and Shenzhen.

"China's labor law stipulates that employers should provide breast-feeding time for new mothers who have just returned to work, either 40 minutes or an hour a day. However, there is no law that requires employers to offer breast-feeding facilities," said Zhu Wenhe, a lawyer who volunteers for the non-profit Beijing Red Maple Women's Psychology Counseling Hotline.

"Some regulations say that an employer should provide certain facilities, but they do not spell out what kind of facilities exactly," said Zhu.

The issue is left to women's federations and NGOs to push for increased and improved facilities, Zhu said. "In China, it is still a problem of awareness. People need to recognize the issue first, and then they will act," he said.

If mothers find themselves being harassed for breast-feeding in public, they can complain to management or call the police, Zhu suggested.