Many of the children who were born during the emergence of China's one-child policy are now parents themselves. It hasn't been hard for them to understand and follow international standards regarding breastfeeding, but they have still faced some difficulties.

An Jiangqun, 32, was still receiving calls from work when she was making her way to the hospital delivery room. After her daughter was born, she found herself more tired than she ever had been before. Her seven-month-old daughter drank formula milk on the day she was born because An couldn't produce any milk.

However, An has breastfed her child every day since then, even hiring a nurse to give her massages in the hope that she can produce more breast milk. When An resumed her work after her maternity leave, she found that she has little time to continue breastfeeding.

"I've been a bit indecisive about continuing breastfeeding, especially since I've been feeling so much pressure from work. But I've managed to persist," she says.

She relocated to a new home closer to her office and purchased an electric bicycle, allowing her to make quick trips during her lunch break to breastfeed her baby. On days when she can't make it home, she carries a breast pump and an icebox to collect and store the milk for her baby to drink later. Her goal is to keep breastfeeding through her child's first year of life.

"Although my daughter is slimmer than other babies her age, she could stand up on her own much earlier than others. She plays by herself and doesn't like to cry," An says.

An often browses online parenting forums, encouraging other parents to practice breastfeeding and swapping tips with other mothers.

Hipgrave says that breastfeeding is not always in China. Women often regard breastfeeding as a very private activity, finding it difficult to breastfeed in public places, most of which have no private nursing rooms.

Women who reenter the workforce often find it difficult to continue breastfeeding as well. Still others believe that they cannot produce enough milk to feed their children properly, although studies have shown that virtually all women are capable of producing a sufficient amount of milk.

He noticed the pervasive presence of advertisements for baby formula, and sales promotions for breast milk substitutes, have shaken the determination of many young mothers to breastfeed.

An says she doesn't know how the milk powder companies get her telephone number. They often call her to offer her promotions for their products. During public parent-child activities and holidays, the companies are quick to make their presence known, setting up booths and handing out free gifts.

Although China issued a regulation to prohibit the advertisement and promotion of breast milk substitutes in 1995, the regulation is not well enforced.

According to an investigation conducted by the China Consumers Association in 15 cities, including Beijing, Chongqing and Shenyang, hospitals, malls and supermarkets are the key areas where formula manufacturers promote their products.

Experts say formula milk powder makes children more prone to infections, asthma, obesity and diabetes. Low-quality milk powder and formula substitutes are often marketed in poor rural areas, where many parents have been forced to leave their children in the care of their grandparents while they work in the cities.

Although the breastfeeding rate in remote rural areas is much higher than that of the cities, rural people have many misunderstandings regarding breastfeeding.

Ye Yan, a village doctor of Baizi in Southwest China's Yunnan province, says more than 90 percent of the women in the village breastfeed their children until they are one year old.

But at the same time, she says the mothers are encouraged to add supplementary food as early as the fourth month..

For remote and poor regions, another problem is more pressing. Malnutrition is common among infants over the age of six months as a result of the improper introduction of non-nutritious supplementary food.

According to a 2009 UNICEF report on nutrition, China is home to 13 million of the world' s 177 million stunted children. Although rates have declined, China still has more stunted children than any country in the world other than India. Most of these children reside in poor rural areas.

Chen Chunming, an expert with the China Disease Prevention and Control Center, says many children under the age of two suffer from anemia because most traditional Chinese diets lack fresh meat, which leads to iron deficiencies.

The rate of anemia among urban infants is over 20 percent, and the figure is higher among rural infants, Chen says..

UNICEF is cooperating with the Chinese government to provide food supplements to address nutritional problems. Families in 550 rural counties will be provided with free daily supplements, which contain a mixture of nine vitamins and minerals in a soybean-based powder.

Counties in the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan have already seen a 30-percent reduction in new anemia cases since the introduction of the supplements in 2009.