Chinese trigger Australian baby milk run

[anonymoose]

Use a wetnurse obviously.

[Guest realmayo]

I assume you're joking!

[anonymoose]

Being flippant, yes, but not joking.

[Guest realmayo]

Okay, cos my understanding is a wet nurse would cost way more than most people could afford.

[frankwall]

Amazing that this has happened so quickly, so as to totally deplete Austrialia's supply. I also immediately thought it's a business opportunity, but I suppose it's true that it could become very complex. Hopefully the Australians will up their production if this trend keeps continuing. If it does, it could still be a money-making opportunity in Australia.

[Scandinavian]

Count_zero is forgetting one important reason why Chinese do not breastfeed. No one will chose the slightly cumbersome option if there is an easier one. If you use baby formula your aiy can get the task of getting up in the morning. Those who do not have enough milk, have that problem because they did not try hard enough. Breastfeeding stimulates milk production and it is only a very small percentage of women who are healthy enough to carry a baby will not be able to provide milk. (not counting those women who are starving themselves after birth to get back into shape, they should do a readup on how many calories milk production burns)

Because babies in the west are also fed baby formula does not work as an excuse that people in China are ignorant to what is most healthy. All over the world you will see pregnant woman drinking, doing things that is unhealthy for the babies. The Chinese consumption of baby formula is out of control.

Those who cannot be with their babies after birth should consider not having the baby at all, there are enough people on this planet and if you don't care enough about your offspring to take care of it, don't have it.

[xiaocai]

My parents could not be with me when they had me because both of them were busy working in a factory. That was more than 20 years ago and one person's salary could not sustain the expense of a family of 3. I stayed with my grandparents until I was 4. This is still true to many Chinese families now. It is not because they do not love me, but they had to face too many problems raising a family in a country which essentially lacks all kinds of resources. Maybe it is a bit hard to imagine for a Scandinavian, though.

[Scandinavian]

My parents could not be with me when they had me because both of them were busy working in a factory. That was more than 20 years ago and one person's salary could not sustain the expense of a family of 3. I stayed with my grandparents until I was 4. This is still true to many Chinese families now. It is not because they do not love me, but they had to face too many problems raising a family in a country which essentially lacks all kinds of resources. Maybe it is a bit hard to imagine for a Scandinavian, though.

I am sure your parents would have wanted to be with their children and they have worked very hard to provide for you. That is still the case for some people today, but, the place I live in, the average household income is 10000RMB per adult. Here everyone is outsourcing childcare to grandparents or ayis. The parking garage is full of expensive imported cars and the playground is full of children playing with their aiys. It seems that people spend their wealth on things that are essentially unimportant, compared to the importance of taking care of their children.

The concept of migrant workers may be a necessity, but in my mind it is cruel to both grown ups and children. (and there is probably a lengthy political decision somewhere here.

[xiaocai]

Well, with not condoning the cases you have mentioned in mind, I think there is a big different between "cannot" and "do not want to".

[roddy]

I wish I could make pronouncements on national breastfeeding policy based on my experiences of walking through my luxury housing estate. And then, when challenged, conflate the issue with childcare.

[Guest realmayo]

Without wanting to go anywhere at all near the broad generalisation/judgementalisations of Scandinavian's post, has anyone ever thought that it's more normal in China than in other countries for well-off middle-class women in their 20s & 30s to be happy for their parents in other cities or even other countries to raise their very young child, while they get on with their career? Surprises me when I come across it, but small sample size and all that.

[Scandinavian]

has anyone ever thought that it's more normal in China than in other countries for well-off middle-class women in their 20s & 30s to be happy for their parents in other cities or even other countries to raise their very young child

all my knowledge of childcare says that Children are best off with their natural parents. essentially having children is a selfish act, it is something that a man and a woman do for themselves, and then it just makes no sense to not also take the responsibility of said children.

I apologize for the broad generalizations. can anyone quantify why there is a high demand for baby formula in China if none of my generalizations are at play ?

[gato]

essentially having children is a selfish act, it is something that a man and a woman do for themselves, and then it just makes no sense to not also take the responsibility of said children

In China and in many other cultures that are still going through the culture "modernization" process that Europe and the US went through in the 19th and 20th centuries, having children is not just something that "a man and a woman do for themselves", but something that's done for the entire extended family -- just like the fact that parents have much more influence over their kids' marriages. There is less romanticism and "love" attached to marriage and having children, which might explain why so many parents leave their kids to under grandparents' and others' care.

[skylee]

I think the milk run has more to do with parents' loss of confidence in baby formula sold in Mainland China. And of course the milk run is not just happening in Australia and NZ. It is also a problem in HK and Macau.

Macau - Baby milk shortage results in rationing

Hong Kong - Chinese scramble for milk formula goes international

Shortages are common, especially during national holidays, when visitors often arrive. The problem arose in 2008 after melamine, an industrial chemical, was added to mainland milk supplies. That poisoning left at least six children dead and hundreds of thousands ill. The competition for formula has become a major source of tension between Hongkongers and mainlanders.

Recent reports suggested the problem had spread internationally - with newspapers as far afield as Germany and Australia reporting that Chinese buyers had cleared shop shelves of baby formula.

Since melamine-tainted milk powder killed mainland consumers in 2008, Macau parents have complained continually about limited supplies of infant formula here.

They say mainland tourists are buying up the product in bulk on a daily basis.

[gato]

There's news about contaminated milk in New Zealand, too.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/126376/trade-fears-after-unwanted-chemicals-found-in-milk

Trade fears after unwanted chemicals found in milk

Updated at 10:04 pm on 24 January 2013

Fonterra and government officials are worried the discovery of chemical traces in milk could make international regulators and consumers reject New Zealand exports due to contamination fears.

The Ministry for Primary Industries on Thursday announced the suspension of products containing the compound dicyandiamide (DCD) after improved testing showed low-level residues were present in milk and milk powder.

The products are used by some New Zealand dairy farmers to lower nitrate emissions while growing more grass. Dairy makes up a quarter of all exports from New Zealand.

New Zealand's two largest fertiliser companies have suspended the use of known DCD products, as well as trying to identify all products that have DCD in them.

Dairy coooperative Fonterra is reassuring customers that there is no food safety risk from DCD.

[chickpea]

That happens in all countries, where formula is controlled from time to time.

And it is obvious that the industry does anything to convince parents to do their kids the best best when feeding formula.

The tell them give your baby our food and it will become intelligent,gifted and healthy. They get samples and it's told that parents are independent to work although it's a huge amount of the salary that will be needed for the formula! If the mother afterwards doesn't find work they struggle to feed their babies with a lacking nutrition alternative compared to breastmilk.

Even in western countries formula causes death and diseases but in a smaller amount.

Stupid arguments like you know better what's in your baby's food and breastmilk is contaminated. Or that it would be better to wean because you smoke, or or or...

[xiaocai]

Most Chinese think kids growing up with grandparents is a good thing. Read 红楼梦 and you can see its historical root. It is not because they don't want to take care of their children, but they think their parents may do a better job than they do. I don't think they are selfish, just not very informed. My parents have under countless occasions expressed that they will help me raise child/children, and it is not a matter of "if" but "when".

There is high demand of food in China in general, because we are talking about 1.4 billion people here. Once again, may be a bit hard to imagine for Scandinavians. Even a slight increase in demand will cause problem if the supply chain is not well established.

[skylee]

In HK a law has been enacted to limit the amount of baby formula that each adult can take out of HK per day (approx two cans). Many people have been arrested and fined. The new measure has attracted criticism on Mainland press.

環球時報責港自絕當內地門戶

http://www.am730.com.hk/article.php?article=144849

Theoretically people can still (hire people to) get milk powder from HK if they can afford the high cost.

[skylee]

And then, of course, 你有張良計，我有過牆梯；道高一尺，魔高一丈。 Traders try to beat rule on baby formula with sachets.

Parallel-goods traders are already finding ways to dodge the two-tin limit on baby formula – weeks before the government is set to approve the new rule.

On Monday, the South China Morning Post found traders outside Sheung Shui station – a large-scale distribution centre for the parallel-goods business – apparently loading bags with milk powder packed in small sachets of individual servings instead of the usual large tins.

[abcdefg]

I was in Macau not long ago and coming back across the border at Gongbei into Zhuhia, I saw lots of people in line carrying baby milk as well as other edible consumer goods. They would turn them over to a person with a shopping cart or wagon on the Zhuhai side and then just turn straight around and make another run.