Hong Kong
CNN
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You can’t carry heavy things. You should sleep more. without work. Without household chores.
And the list goes on as Carol Chan explained her postpartum instructions for new mom Taylor Richard.
Chan is a “pui yuet”, also called a confinement nanny, who lives with families after the birth of a baby. She prepares meals and herbal medicines, takes care of the baby, and provides guidance on how to be a new mother.
Richard, a content creator from Canada, traveled to Hong Kong to become a model and fell in love with her husband, Tom. They married in November 2018, and Richard gave birth to her son, Levi, in March 2022.
Richard decided to hire Chan, who lived with the family for a month and spent an additional month helping out.
Richard vlogged about his experience with Chan on his YouTube channel, and that video went viral with 2.9 million views. The reaction was mainly admiration and praise from Richard’s mainly Western supporters.
The Chinese concept of confinement—“zuo yue zi” or “month sitting”—is when a new mother stays home for a month to allow her body to rest after giving birth.
During this time, the pui yuet prepares dishes that meet the mother’s physical needs and help her with milk production and other concerns. The pui yuet also caters to the mother with massages, body wraps and lessons on how to care for the new baby.
Richard and Chan refused to share the cost of Chan’s services. Few entities constantly monitor the prices of babysitters in Hong Kong because most negotiations are done directly between clients and babysitters.
The estimated cost of a pui yuet in Hong Kong ranges from HK$63,800 (US$8,100) to HK$268,000 (US$34,100) for 26 to 30 nights for a live-in nanny, according to a 2021 survey of the Consumer Council, a statutory body in Hong Kong dedicated to protecting consumer rights. The council, which surveyed 19 companies or organizations providing postnatal care, also reported that the cost of a pui yuet working eight hours a day for 26 days ranges from HK$21,000 (US$2,600) to US$34,000. from Hong Kong (4300 US dollars). .
This tradition is not without its critics, and some have questioned whether the traditional methods of confinement in the Chinese community are too extreme and can be dangerous. In 2015, a new mother in shanghai Following custom, he died of heat stroke after wrapping himself in a quilt and turning off the air conditioning, state media reported.
In recent years, some people have adapted the tradition into more modern forms, taking advantage of available technology. It’s important to turn on the air conditioning when it’s hot, Chan said, or else you could get sick. The traditional practice had been to avoid anything cold no matter what the weather.
Richard, now 34, said he loved the time he spent with Chan.
“It meant everything! My husband and I have no family in Hong Kong, and as new parents we had no idea,” she said by email. “Having someone take care of my body and gently guide me through my transition to motherhood made the start of my baby’s life very positive. I will be forever grateful for Carol!”
Richard was the first Western mother Chan cared for in her 12-year career. But since Richard’s YouTube video went viral, Chan said she has received calls from Westerners seeking her services from as far away as the United States and the United Kingdom. She is now heading to Vancouver, British Columbia, in July to work as a pui yuet for a family there for a month.
The kind of care Richard received is expensive, whether the new parents live in Hong Kong or elsewhere. One US location, Boram Postnatal Retreat, opened last year in New York City.
“It was very challenging to get the concept to others,” co-founder Boram Nam told CNN. “It was very much about the educational process: the information is abundant until you give birth, and the focus shifts entirely to the baby. So we get into that discussion and people get it.”
But his program comes at a high price, starting at three nights for $2,700.
“This is the price we are required to charge for the level of service we provide within the guidelines of what postpartum care looks like in the US,” Nam said, adding that she hopes insurance will cover the services eventually. “We want to make sure that others, more women, a more diverse group of people can access this.”
Mandy Major, owner of Major Care, a US-based virtual postpartum doula service, has noticed a lack of postpartum education in her country.
“We have a lack of consistent postpartum here within our health care system,” Major said. “We have a dynamic, hyper-productive, hyper-independent culture, but we also don’t have paid vacations.”
Richard’s mostly Western followers on YouTube noted that pressure, commenting on the luxury of taking a month off to spend time healing and connecting with their babies.
“As an American woman who gave birth 4 times and was immediately kicked out of the hospital hoping to figure it all out on her own, I can certainly say that if this had been an option, it could have changed all my experiences as a mother!” one person said.
“I returned to work 2 weeks postpartum in the US,” wrote another mother. “I never felt like I could fully bond with my son.”
The month of confinement came to an end for Richard last April. In Richard’s YouTube video, Chan holds Levi one last time and hands him back to his mother as she puts on her shoes to leave.
Richard’s eyes begin to fill with tears, surprising herself by her emotional reaction.
“I feel like I’m losing a family member,” he says as the door slowly closes behind Chan, according to the video.
Even after the lockdown experience, Chan remains close to Richard’s family, stopping by for lunch every once in a while and continuing to give baby advice.
“If I have another baby, I would love to have it in Canada with my family, but I want Carol to come with me if I do!” Richard said in a video chat later, smiling. “I can’t imagine going through this again without her.”
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