China Focus: New moms look to five-star treatment for "sitting month"

Instead of "confining" herself and her newborn baby to the house during the traditional Chinese "sitting month," Sun Hao has booked a luxury maternity care center.

"Why not 'sit a month' comfortably? There is a 24-hour babysitting service and yoga classes to help me get back into shape. It means I will be rested, refreshed and ready to return to work," said Sun, 30.

For 50,000 yuan (around 7,735 U.S. dollars), the center, which is in Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, provides accommodation, meals, round-the-clock care, daily health checks, as well as swimming classes for the baby and workout classes for Sun.

"Zuo yuezi" (sitting a month) is a post-partum ritual observed by most Chinese women. To help new mothers recover and to ensure their future health, they spend up to a month indoors with their newborns after giving birth, and follow a host of "rules," spanning from bans on washing their hair to not eating cold food and no air-conditioning.

"These 'rules' have their roots in a bygone era, but life is different now," Sun said.

She is one of many new mothers who are more prosperous and image-conscious than the generation before. They prefer to hire maternity matrons or go to maternity care centers rather than be helped by their own mothers.

This changing attitude toward sitting a month has resulted in a boom of maternity care centers, and the industry is expected to grow even more now that all couples can have two children.

According to the family planning authority, the two-child policy is expected to result in 3 million more babies every year in the coming five years.

"Maternity care centers are popular with new mothers," said Du Yuanyuan, head of the largest maternity care center in Shaanxi's Xianyang City.

"We have a long waiting list -- we are fully booked until November," said Du, who, after staying at a maternity care center two years ago, quit her job and opened her own.

Maternity care centers across the country report similar demand.

"Since November, at least three women have come in for a consultation every day. All of our rooms are booked until June," an employee of a center in Hangzhou said.

The Hangzhou center offers three different packages, and even though prices start from 100,000 yuan, expectant mothers are not deterred.

"Many women who will be having a second child are between 35 and 45, and, as such, they are deemed 'higher risk.' They come to use because they want professional care and guidance," said Zhu Chunzhi, executive head of Hangzhou Aima Maternity Hospital.

As with all emerging industries, maternity care centers are not without their problems, such as a lack of industry service standards and regulations.

Last November, the China Maternal and Child Health Association issued a guideline on postpartum recovery services, which advised that maternity care centers should be within a 15-minute drive of hospitals, and have at least 12 beds. All staff must be certified.

Liu Ling, secretary-general with the National Technical Committee on Health Care Service, said a national standard on maternity care centers was in the pipeline, too, which would ensure the sound development of the industry. Endi