Behind Milk Scandal, a Drop in Breast-Feeding

Zhang Xue, being fed at her home in Yongan, China, was hospitalized, along with her twin, after drinking tainted milk and developing kidney stones. (By Ng Han Guan -- Associated Press)

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Sun Yazi, a 56-year-old Beijing resident, said breast-feeding is not an option for her 6-month-old granddaughter because the baby's mother is away for long periods as she studies software technology. In the meantime, Sun looks after the child and feeds her formula.

"The school is far away, so her mother has to leave home very early and come back very late. There is no way for her to feed the baby in between," Sun said. "So I take care of her and feed her imported milk powder. I know breast-feeding is better, but what can we do? My daughter has to go to school."

Sun Tingting, 28, also feeds her 6-month-old daughter imported formula, but for a different reason.

"I started to add other food when she was 4 months old. And I will completely stop breast-feeding in two months because it affects the shape of my breasts," said Sun, a university lecturer. "I feed my baby imported milk powder, so I don't worry about the quality. The milk scandal won't change my mind."

Maternity leave in China is typically four months. But Zhao Ying, the breadwinner in her family and owner of a small shop, returned to work just a month after giving birth to her son.

"Maybe because I was too busy, I couldn't excrete enough milk to feed him back then. He was very hungry and cried very loudly. When I gave him formula, he stopped crying and drank quickly. It was so much easier," said Zhao, 24. "Now I regret my decision. If I breast-fed him, we wouldn't need to take him to the hospital now to check for kidney stones. But what can I do? We need income to raise him."

More than 3,600 children remain hospitalized after drinking tainted formula, health officials said this week. Melamine, an industrial chemical that raises nitrogen readings and makes milk appear to be high in protein, can cause kidney stones or kidney failure in infants.

In the most recent scandal, employees at milk farms or milk distribution centers supplying Sanlu Dairy Co. allegedly used melamine to disguise the fact that they had watered down the milk, increasing its volume for greater profit, officials said.

A similar milk scare in 2004 involved fake milk formula with no nutritional value and killed at least a dozen infants in Anhui province.

That was a missed opportunity to promote breast-feeding, according to Ding, the newsletter editor. "Milk companies say they add DHA, a fatty acid which is good for developing intelligence, so parents believe this will make their children smarter," Ding said. "But in fact, DHA exists naturally in mother's milk."

At Haidian hospital, nurse Li tried to make sure parents were well-informed. "Do you understand the benefits of breast-feeding?" Li asked.

Xu Huaiyang, a 32-year-old software engineer, raised his hand. "It will generate a good relationship between the mother and the baby," he said.

"Yes, that's right," Li said. "What else?"

Xu raised his hand again. "The baby will not have to drink Sanlu milk powder."

News researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.