Chinese postpartum care sees widespread adoption, expansion

Chinese traditional therapy for postpartum care has a history of more than 2,000 years and should be carried out in a more scientific way to benefit new moms not only in China but across the world, a veteran industrial practitioner said.

Ren Chengwei founded a postpartum care center in Beijing 16 years ago. Now it is one of the most influential companies of its kind in China, with more than 30 branches in major cities.

"Postpartum care helps the recovery of the ballooning womb and other organs that gave way to the growing fetus inside a woman's body. It is closely related to the health of new moms, both physically and psychologically," Ren said.

Chinese traditional therapy advises women take a month-long rest after giving birth, literally called yuezi or "month" in Chinese. It was an essential step to show whether women have aftereffects or lingering maladies from labor.

"It is part of the culture of China," Ren said.

She brought over a professional postpartum care system from Taiwan, where the industry was booming, in 2006 and made improvements to the methods gradually.

Her company, Weige Confinement Service Center, employs nurses rather than midwives or matrons to provide 24-hour one-on-one professional service.

It employs traditional Chinese medicine doctors and dietitians to serve tailor-made food, usually six meals a day, to new moms catering to their physical condition, Ren said.

It also changes the convention of centralized child rearing in some postpartum care centers to keep the babies with their parents. What's more, her center teaches new parents how to take care of the infants and encourages them to take tests before leaving.

So far, the Weige centers in China have served more than 100,000 families, including those in mixed marriages.

"Many foreign husbands accept Chinese postpartum care when they found their wives recovered quickly, stayed healthy, in good spirits and got their figures back," Ren said.

She has a long-term plan to set up centers abroad, so these traditions can benefit people there too, though Ren admitted adjustment to new markets takes time.

While her business has been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it will eventually expand to cover more cities domestically.

Its regional center in Shenzhen just signed an agreement with Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital, a subsidiary of United Family Healthcare, a leading private hospital based in Beijing. They will provide a package of services from labor to postpartum care.