There isn't a Hong Kong hospital that qualifies as being truly baby-friendly, claims Patricia Ip Lai-sheung of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association.
To earn such a designation, a hospital must implement 10 steps to promote breastfeeding, as outlined by Unicef and promoted in Hong Kong since the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative was set up locally in 1992.
They include helping mothers start breastfeeding within 30 minutes of birth, encouraging breastfeeding on demand, routinely training staff in breastfeeding techniques, practising rooming-in (babies being allowed to stay with their mothers 24 hours a day), and encouraging breastfeeding except when it's medically impossible.
The Hospital Authority has a Breastfeeding Promotion Committee to co-ordinate breastfeeding practices in public hospitals, and most of Hong Kong's private hospitals claim to have active breastfeeding policies.
However, an appeal to mothers published in the Post by the La Leche League, a breastfeeding advocacy group, brought both praise and criticism of hospitals' efforts.
Jenny Buck, who gave birth at Queen Mary Hospital two years ago, says staff encouraged rooming-in, but seemed more comfortable with bottle feeding - perhaps because it was more easily measurable.
'They can see exactly how much babies are drinking. Post-natal nursing staff are anxious to tick all the boxes that show the baby is progressing as expected.'