Recently, many Chinese mothers have embraced the happiness of giving birth to a second child, nearly one year after China announced the end of the one-child policy that was rolled across the country between 1978 and 1980, now allowing parents to have two children.
It's been a Chinese custom for new mothers to have a helper, whether a family member or hired caregiver, take care of them and their newborns the first month after birthing.
According to the Shanghai Morning Post, demand for such caregivers for maternal care has risen with the rising number of births propelled by the two-child policy.
Shanghai's domestic worker market is also adapting to the demand, by providing skilled caregivers for new mothers who can be hired on an hourly basis.
A woman surnamed Zhang recently gave birth to her second child. She said she began planning for it once the two-child policy was set. But she didn't anticipate the difficulty of finding a satisfactory combination of nurse, nanny and maid for postnatal care, known as a yuesao in Chinese.
Rising need
Currently, demand for yuesao is surging by 30 percent to 100 percent at several domestic service companies affiliated to Shanghai Household Services Association, according to the group's data.
Some high-performing yuesao are already booked in advance for work through the first half of next year.
An expert from the association predicted that after two years under the new child policy, Shanghai likely will witness an increased need of 5,000 yuesao over previous years.
There are about 30,000 yuesao currently in the city. The expert said that current tension between the demand side and the supply side is likely to find equilibrium in two years.
"Many families tend to be fastidious in the choice of yuesao, and they want those who are experienced, diligent and good-tempered," said one staff member from the association.
A customer told the Shanghai Morning Post that "I've visited several household service companies, and done thorough investigation to every potential yuesao they provided to me. I'll check on their working schedule, service details and reviews from their employers."
Many families now also require yuesao to go through certain psychological tests before starting to work for them.
"I want to know whether a yuesao will be unstable in moods, whether she is easily irritable, or whether she will always speak nicely to people," a client surnamed Liu told the Shanghai Morning Post.
Liu insisted on conducting a psychological test on a yuesao before she hired her, for fear that some latent psychological problems of a maid would bring irreversible consequences to their baby.
She said that one of her friends thought that her yuesao was mentally ill, which the woman reasoned was her baby became nervous of strangers and cried all night.
Expensive yet not flexible
Besides the shortage of yuesao, many families complained to the Shanghai Morning Post that they're also baffled by the low-diversity market, which can't provide tailored services to different families.
Currently, a yuesao usually lives with the family for at least one month, and rates vary from several thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan per month.
In 2014, the average month's rate for a yuesao in Shanghai was 9,405 yuan ($1,410). If a yuesao holds a university diploma, her rate will be 10 percent to 15 percent higher than others. Fees rise 15 percent more to take care of premature infants, and 35 percent more to look after twins.
A pregnant woman told the newspaper that she is looking for a nanny who can take care of the baby only at night, because her parents and her parents-in-law would come to take care of her and the baby, and they can help during daytime.
But after consulting six or so yuesao service providers in the city, she still couldn't find such a caregiver.
"If I hire a yuesao, it will cost at least 12,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan for one month," said the woman, which she said she could not afford.
Several other people in need of a yuesao also told the Shanghai Morning Post that they feel the service providers in yuesao's market can't satisfy their specific needs, and they expect to see more choices in the future.
New options
Faced with the demand, three household service companies in Shanghai this month have created an hourly yuesao service, in addition to the traditional yuesao hires on a monthly basis.
Hourly charges for a yuesao run about 50 yuan per hour during daytime, and about 40 yuan per hour at night.
Managers from the three companies told the newspaper that hourly yuesao can satisfy more specific needs of different families.
For instance, if a mother needs some basic tutoring on how to feed a baby, she can hire an hourly yuesao and learn from her in a few days.
Moreover, they said, daytime yuesao will be helpful to families who have to work during the day.
The three companies adjust their hourly charges according to each client's needs, the yuesao's work periods and other factors.
Compared with the high expense of a traditional yuesao service, the companies said that the new service is more efficient and economically feasible for more families in general.
