I recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy in a private hospital in Hong Kong. After an exhausting 50.5 hour labour, I was completely overwhelmed when my son was finally born. I was instantly in love.
Throughout my pregnancy my husband and I had discussed my desire to breastfeed our baby. As a nutritionist, I was all too aware of the benefits of breastfeeding, not only for our new baby, but also for my own health. Breastfeeding was something I wanted to try and do and I felt it important to have the support of my husband in doing so.
Within the first ten minutes of our son’s life, the midwife asked me what type of artificial feeding our son should receive. When I told her that my son was to be exclusively breastfed, she looked at me confused, then repeated the same question. My husband had to repeat to her that our son was only to be breastfed, no artificial milk, no formula. That’s ok, she said, we’ll give him some sugar water. Again, my husband had to insist, no water, no sugar water, no formula, no artificial feeds, nothing other than breastmilk. I had anticipated that the hospital staff may offer to give our baby formula, but I certainly did not anticipate that they would be so insistent that our son need to be artificially fed nor did I expect that they would be so horrified by the prospect of exclusive breastfeeding.
During my 3 day stay at the hospital I had to take it upon myself to ensure that my son was being breastfed. On the first night, my son was brought to me at 11pm for a feed before being taken back to the nursery 15 minutes later. At 3.30am the next morning I was woken by the nurse and told to feed my baby as he wouldn’t stop crying. Given I had only had an epidural some 12 hours prior, I was shocked that I was expected to walk to the nursery to collect and feed my baby. Sitting in the nursery however, I was able to observe the wall chart that contained the feeding directions for the 20 or so newborns in the hospital. It was disappointing to read that my son was the only baby being exclusively breastfed. Every baby in the hospital was being fed some type of artificial formula.
The following day I kept our baby in the ward with my husband and I. This allowed us to spend time with our new baby and also to feed him when he was hungry. I ignored the nurse’s strict advice to only feed him at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm during the day but instead let our son guide when he was fed. That evening however I was back on the rigid feeding schedule and expected to be in the nursery feeding my baby at 11pm, 2am and 5am. Needless to say, by the following morning, I was exhausted and demanded to be discharged. Fortunately, my doctor and my son’s paediatrician agreed and I was able to leave the hospital within 48 hours of giving birth.
Leaving the hospital, I was thoroughly disappointed in the way breastfeeding was mismanaged. I had expected at least some support from hospital staff, but instead, received none. I note that:
- Not once, was I shown how to breastfeed my son;
- I was not allowed to hold my son within the first hour of his birth, therefore delaying the first breastfeed;
- I had to set my own watch alarm to ensure I was awake to do the 11pm, 2am, 5am and 8am feeds, as the nursing staff did not come and get me nor did they bring my son to me;
- The staff insisted that my son needed artificial feeding and offered a number of times to give my son a ‘top up’ of formula;
- I was the only mother in the feeding room at 11pm, 2am and 5am;
- Those other mothers that did attempt to breastfeed their babies (in addition to the formula they were receiving) were not given any support or guidance. Indeed these mothers had large problems getting their babies to latch on properly, if at all;
- There was no promotion of breastfeeding within the hospital and no support from staff in initiating or maintaining breastfeeding.
The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding of all babies until 6 months of age. Other than oral rehydration solutions, medications or vitamin or mineral supplements, infants should only be receiving breastmilk. With such a complete lack of support for new mothers to breastfeed in Hong Kong however, babies who are exclusively breastfed will remain the exception, rather than the rule in Hong Kong.
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Hi, this is a excellent blog you have. I stumbled upon it on Google while searching for some baby articles. Thanks and good luck
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