Breast milk: more than 400 nutrients but no melamine

Xiao Wu aka Yanhong Wheeler

Yanhong Wheeler is a Chinese writer who returned from living in the U.S. and became a bestselling author of books about child rearing. Known to her readers as Xiao Wu (小巫) or Wee Witch, Xiao Wu’s books challenge many of the conventions of Chinese parenting.

She is a fierce advocate of breast feeding and the Beijing representative of La Leche League International, an international organization that promotes breast feeding.

She answered a few questions by telephone about breast feeding in China and the effects of the melamine milk powder scandal on Chinese attitudes towards mother’s milk.

Danwei: When did Chinese mothers start using milk powder in preference to breast feeding?

Xiao Wu: In the early to mid 90s. Before that that there was no domestically made formula and very few people had enough money to buy imported formula. With the emergence of a middle class, people could afford it, and it became a status thing, showing off like “our family can afford imported formula”.

Now there is also pressure from the grandparents, who want to play a part in feeding their grandchildren and prefer formula because they can do it all on their own. They encourage their daughters to use formula in the mistaken belief that it’s more nutritious.

Many Chinese women also worry that breast feeding will cause their breasts to sag and then their husbands won’t find them attractive. Which is not true: breasts sag after pregnancy and with age, not from breast feeding.

Danwei: What is your reaction to stories such as the recent Southern Daily article translated on Danwei saying that 9 out of 10 Chinese mothers do not have enough breast milk? Is that true?

Xiao Wu: Nonsense!

It’s the other way around. 99 out of 100 women have enough milk, less than 1% of mothers have problems, but it’s so rare.

We’re mammals. All mammals feed their babies with their own milk.

There are more than 400 nutrients in breast milk that no milk powder can imitate. But no melamine.

Danwei: Do you think the melamine milk scandal is going to change Chinese women’s attitude to breast feeding?

Xiao Wu: For the really smart ones, for people who connect the two together.

But there are pediatricians and health care professionals who say outrageous things in the media in support of baby feeding formula. The milk formula companies have big marketing budgets.