When her child was 2 months old, Liu was finally able to feed him exclusively on breast milk. She also resigned from her job as operation director assistant in a large international company, so she could breast-feed her son undistracted.

"It was a hard choice. But nothing is more important than my son," Liu says. "The job kept me too busy and there was a lot of overtime. If I worked, I couldn't have continued to breast-feed my son."

Liu now works at her mother's cosmetics distributing company, and is able to nurse her child anytime she wishes.

But not every breast-feeding mother has that luxury.

One of Liu's cousins, for instance, has to continue working even while breast-feeding. As a result of the pressure from work, the mother could not produce enough milk and has to buy milk formula from abroad.

"For babies under 4 months, they can only survive on milk. If mother's milk is not available, then milk formula is next best," says Liu Zhaoqiu, the healthcare specialist.

At the bottom line, parents suffer such concern about their babies' diet because they need to have the confidence that what they feed their children is safe and uncontaminated.

As Liu sums up, "the authorities must adopt efficient quality control measures to make sure formula on market is safe. This will reestablish confidence."

Perhaps then, parents would not have to risk breaking the law by buying milk from Hong Kong.

Contact the writer at liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn.