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After giving birth to her daughter via cesarean section, Jeon did not go home when she left the hospital. A driver was waiting at her door to take her and her baby to a

sanhujoriwon

. This place could be described as a hybrid between a postpartum rehabilitation clinic and a luxury hotel with an open bar for care 24 hours a day. It is an intermediate stop, not cheap, that four out of five new South Korean mothers make.

Jeon paid more than five and a half million won (around 4,000 euros) for two weeks staying in one of these centers in Gangnam, one of the most exclusive and modern neighborhoods in Seoul. Her mother had

five nurses

at her disposal to care for the baby while she rested. During the first days, she couldn't even hold her daughter because she was told that she didn't have to lift any weight at all. Also do not drink cold water or shower.

The gigantic room she was staying in included a room for yoga, Pilates and massages. Every day she received tutorials on how she should bathe the baby, change diapers, establish a routine for breastfeeding him, and get him to fall asleep during his sleeping hours. He also had a psychologist available in case of postpartum depression.

More than 500 clinics in South Korea

Throughout the country there are more than 500 of these private clinics like the one Jeon entered. Prices can range between

150 and 2,000 euros per night

. But there are also many other

public ones

, attached to hospital birth units and financed with state funds. These are much cheaper: between 800 and 1,500 euros for the entire stay, which is usually two to three weeks.

The problem with public centers is that the demand is so overwhelming that in some cities the authorities have to raffle the available places among applicants. In other cities, it is the parents who wait in a long line for hours to try their luck and get a place that is obtained in order of arrival at the center. There are also other state clinics that open online registration. But the places, as one of the centers in southern Seoul revealed, are filled in just 30 seconds.

The option of private clinics becomes more expensive every year due to the sharp drop in the birth rate. These postpartum sanctuaries are very popular, but the Ministry of Health said last year that, in the last decade, almost two hundred have closed because fewer babies are born each year.

GettyImages

South Korea is the country with the

lowest birth rate in the world

, which has been plummeting since 2015. It was in 2020 when, for the first time, more deaths than births were recorded, a trend that has continued since then. Authorities have said that the population will soon fall to levels not seen since the 1970s: an estimated 0.59 births per woman in 2026. The total population will then go from 51.75 million in 2024 to 36.22 million.

The first sanhujoriwon was opened in 1996. According to the South Korean Government's own data, these centers now admit more than 80% of new mothers despite the increase in prices. Caring for women after childbirth is a traditional priority.

Una salus as a cheaper option

Many of those who cannot afford these clinics hire a salus at home, a nurse who cares for the mother and baby during the first weeks. In these Asian societies that are still very sexist and have abysmal gender inequality compared to developed Western countries, the figure of the husband in this type of care takes a backseat. There are no social reproaches for a role that, at times, seems like a mere extra.

"Stay in a sanhujoriwon is

like being in paradise

," a famous South Korean presenter named Park Eun-young, who gave birth in 2021, said in a video posted on her social networks. "I just finished eating a big lobster." covered in cheese. Now they are going to help me breastfeed the baby and then I have a facial treatment session and a pedicure session. The only thing I have to worry about is recovering."

20,000 euros for a month in a postpartum center in China

In addition to South Korea, these postpartum clinics are also very popular in neighboring China, but with the difference that in the Asian giant they are all

private

. Meg, a mother who gave birth to her daughter last year, tells this newspaper that she spent four weeks in a luxury clinic in Beijing and paid 160,000 yuan, which is 20,000 euros in exchange.

"In China, before it was normal for the mother or mother-in-law to stay with the new parents during the first month after giving birth. But if the family can afford it, now mothers prefer to stay in one of these centers that are a mix between a hospital and a luxury hotel," says Meg.

These places in China are known as zuo yuezi, which means "sitting for a month." As in South Korea, it is a full-board stay that includes a nanny - a

24-hour

nurse for the baby -, healthy food, therapies, massages and natural medications that help protect the weakened immune system after childbirth.

The latest data - from 2020 - indicated that China had more than

3,000 postnatal care centers

, 80% located in the country's richest cities, where a new industry is flourishing that already collects around 2 billion euros per year.

"Traditional Chinese therapy advises women to rest for a month after giving birth. This postpartum care helps the recovery of the swollen uterus and other organs that gave way to the growing fetus inside the woman's body. After completing the hospitalization , the mothers come out happy and have recovered their figure," explains Ren Chengwei, founder of Weige Confinement Service Center, one of the postpartum centers in China that has 30 branches in the main cities of the country.

Ren was one of the pioneers in his country to open this type of centers after he saw in 2006 that a professional postpartum care system was booming in Taiwan. He assures that more than 100,000 families have passed through his clinics and that, in addition to taking care of mothers and babies, they also have workers dedicated

to training parents

in basic care.


  • Maternity