Breast-feeding is hard. For Chinese mothers, the absence of a wide support system makes it even harder, according to breast-feeding mothers and medical experts.

"More people are becoming aware of the benefits of breast-feeding, but the society is still not fully ready. It is still blind to the needs of breast-feeding mothers," says Han Tongyan, a pediatrician with the No 3 Hospital of Peking University.

"A lot of new mothers I know have to quit their job so they can breast-feed their children better."