In Depth: Milk Powder Pushers Persuading Rural Mothers Not to Breastfeed

Yang Yinghua, who lives in Sichuan province’s Nanjiang county, received another tub of free milk powder one day in April.

Yang, with the help of the village doctor, applied for a free tub of milk powder under a program for poor households three months after her son was born. Dissolving two large spoons of powder in warm water creates a sweet concoction. “I feed him powdered milk when my breast milk doesn’t come out,” she said.