At midnight, four mothers sat quietly in the nursing room, feeding their new babies. One mother, who had given birth less than two weeks ago, had heavy eyelids and dozed off. A nurse came in and took her baby away. The exhausted new mother went back to her room to sleep.
Sleep is just one of the luxuries offered at postpartum care centers in South Korea.
The country’s birth rate might beThe lowest in the worldAlthough the country may have some of the best postpartum care in the world, Seoul’s St. Park is a small boutique postpartum center (also known as a joriwon) where new mothers can be pampered for weeks and stay in hotel-like accommodations.
Fresh meals are served three times a day, and facials, massages and parenting classes are available. Nurses are on hand to watch over babies 24 hours a day.
Nightgowns for mothers on display at the Anidar Centre.
Nightgowns for mothers on display at the Anidar Centre. Jean Chung for The New York Times
Staff care for newborns at St. Park Nursing Center.
Staff care for newborns at St. Park Nursing Center. Jean Chung for The New York Times
New mothers are called out of their rooms only when it’s time to breastfeed in the communal nursing room, where nurses will watch over them. Women who choose not to breastfeed are given free time to heal after delivery. (The babies stay in the nursery all day, but mothers can request to have their newborns sent to their rooms at any time.)
The cost of staying in a postpartum center ranges fromThousands to tens of thousands of dollarsIt varies, depending on the length of the stay – usually 21 days, because according to Korean custom, this is the time it takes for a woman’s body to recover after giving birth. But Sarah Jin Songyun, 46, owner of St. Park, said these postpartum centers were not so luxurious from the beginning.
“When I had my first child, I had nowhere to go,” she said. “Usually in Korea, the grandmother would take care of the newborn, but my mother couldn’t do that, so we decided to go to a postpartum care center.”
St. Park owner Sarah Jinsongyun in a room used as a classroom for Pilates and educational classes.
St. Park owner Sarah Jinsongyun in a room used as a classroom for Pilates and educational classes. Jean Chung for The New York Times
Li Shubei, head nurse at St. Park, explains to mothers in matching nightgowns how to hold and burp babies during an infant care class.
Li Shubei, head nurse at St. Park, explains to mothers in matching nightgowns how to hold and burp babies during an infant care class. Jean Chung for The New York Times
When Jin Songyun was pregnant with her first child in 2007, postpartum care centers were not yet popular. The one she visited was located in an office building and had to share an elevator with workers who went out for a smoke break during the day. The rooms were small and uncomfortable. “There were no nurses to take care of the babies at that time,” Jin Songyun said.
She founded St. Park in 2008 with the goal of providing new mothers with exceptional care in a Balinese-style retreat. St. Park became one of the first high-end postpartum care centers in Seoul. “We are kind of like a transition between the hospital and returning home,” Kim said. “We don’t want mothers to have trouble at home, and that’s what we’re trying to solve.”
In the hallways of St. Park, workers quietly collected dirty laundry and delivered meals, includingEssential kelp soupwhich is a common meal for Koreans after giving birth.
Deliver lunch to a mom in St. Park.
Deliver lunch to a mom in St. Park. Jean Chung for The New York Times
A lunch at St. Park, including a bowl of kelp soup.
A lunch at St. Park, including a bowl of kelp soup. Jean Chung for The New York Times
In the nursing room, beads of sweat dripped from the forehead of a lactation specialist as she helped mothers express breast milk from their nipples — not always gently. A lithe Pilates instructor held classes on the rooftop, offering advice on alignment and recovery.
Although Jin recommends that guests stay for 21 days, she has largely abandoned the folk customs that were still popular when she gave birth to her first child, such as ensuring that new mothers never put their hands in cold water and avoid turning on the air conditioner even in summer.
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“We’ll run the air conditioning,” she said.
A new crop of postpartum care centers also hired nurses, nutritionists and pediatricians. As the overall level of care here improves, more and more mothers, especially first-time mothers, are booking in.
Now,Eight out of 10 Korean mothersAfter giving birth, you go to a postpartum care center, and private nursing homes like St. Park are known among Korean women as one of the best institutions for postpartum recovery. Pregnant women are scrambling to get into their favorite nursing centers, and the competition has become extremely fierce. Some mothers submit an appointment application as soon as they see two lines on the pregnancy test stick.
Jeon Hye-rim, who is expecting her first child in March, said her husband used two phones to get an appointment at Heritage Cheongdam, one of Seoul’s top postpartum care centers. Another popular center, Trinity Yongsan, also put her on a waiting list. “They said, ‘You’re calling now?'” said Jeon, who was seven weeks pregnant when she made the appointment.
A massage parlor in St. Park.
A massage parlor in St. Park. Jean Chung for The New York Times
Jeon Hye-lin is expecting her first child in March and plans to stay in a nursing home for a while after the baby is born.
Jeon Hye-lin is expecting her first child in March and plans to stay in a nursing home for a while after the baby is born. Jean Chung for The New York Times
One of the attractions of booking a postpartum care center is the chance to meet other new mothers who have given birth to children of the same age. Anidar, a care center in Seoul that opened last October, says its goal is to help mothers stay connected after their postpartum care. “We bring together mothers with similar interests and personalities,” said Anidar’s CEO, Jung Min-kyu.
Jeon Hye-lin said she chose Heritage Nursing Center because of a friend’s recommendation. “People want to make good friends in the nursing center,” she said. “This culture will last a child’s whole life.”
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She added: “You tend to want your children to be around people from the same class as you.”
Issues of class and cost are sensitive in South Korea, where inequality is growing. A two-week stay at St. Park (excluding massages, facials and hair treatments) costs more than $6,000, which is not covered by insurance but can be subsidized by a government subsidy designed to encourage more families to have children.
Anidar's foot massage parlour.
Anidar’s foot massage parlour. Jean Chung for The New York Times
Anidar's yoga studio.
Anidar’s yoga studio. Jean Chung for The New York Times
While some care centers are expensive, these fees are a drop in the bucket when it comes to the overall cost of raising a child in South Korea, which may help explain the country’s low birth rate.
“One of the reasons people don’t want to have children is that although the postpartum care here is very good, it’s only for two weeks, and then there’s a lifetime,” Jeon said.
Allison Kang, a Korean-American living in Seoul who gave birth to her first child in March, said being at a postpartum center helped her recover from a difficult birth. “I think the reason this model works in Korea is because they take recovery very seriously, and I really wish that was the case in the U.S. or anywhere else,” she said.
Some mothers say newborns are too fragile to be left in the care of strangers in the postpartum care system. But Alison Jiang said her room was just steps away from her daughter in the nursery, and she never felt far away from her daughter. “It’s so important that if we’re going to recover and allow ourselves to rest, we don’t feel guilty about it,” she said.
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Standing in front of the care center on a recent afternoon, Jin Songyun, the owner of St. Park, said that although her business is for profit, she still thinks about things “as a mother.”
She added: “Every mother will cry when she leaves here.”