For most mothers, giving birth is the hardest part of pregnancy. But for Fan Yuk-kuen, the problems began after delivery. Her breasts hurt and she did not understand why.
Ms Fan, 27, realised the cause of her discomfort only when a second-time mother explained that her breasts were full of milk. Not knowing what to do, she put up with the pain for a day and a half. Only then did a nurse ask her how she wanted to feed her baby - with a bottle or by suckling the child. When she chose the latter, she was told she could breast-feed, but only at four allotted times in the day.
And when she left the private hospital, no one told her she could use pumps to relieve herself and store the milk to feed the baby later.
'Engorged breasts are a sign of pain,' said Dr Linda Brown, chairperson of the Health Care of Women and Childbearing Division at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, who gave a breast-feeding seminar in Hong Kong. A mother's breasts become filled with milk if she does not use them to feed her newborn child almost immediately and at frequent intervals, she explained. The sight of engorged breasts, she said, was 'the most appalling aspect of my visit here'.
Breast-feeding - one of the earliest ways in which a child and mother bond - has not been as widely accepted in Hong Kong as some health professionals would like, despite the nutritional, immunological and psychological benefits to newborns.
The situation seems to be improving, however. Surveys, conducted annually at 22 private and public hospitals with maternity wards since 1992, show an increasing number of mothers are breast-feeding their babies by the time they leave hospital. Last year, 45.9 per cent of mothers chose breast-feeding over bottle feeding compared to 32.4 per cent the year before. In 1992, the corresponding rate was 19 per cent.
