Hana McConville, CEO and co-founder of Alma Care, a post-natal retreat in Toronto on Feb. 23.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
When Hana McConville gave birth to her children, she leaned into a cultural practice from her Singaporean mother’s side: zuo yue zi, a Mandarin expression for “sitting the month.”
For 30 days after each birth, as tradition calls for in parts of Asia, an expert caregiver lived in her house with her, cooked her meals, guided her through health questions and was there to take care of her baby overnight to so she could get a full night’s sleep.
She says the experience opened her eyes to the comparative lack of postpartum support for women in North America and prompted her to co-found Alma Care, a postnatal retreat in Toronto she says is the first of its kind in the country. Since starting a pilot phase in the fall, the retreat has hosted 10 guests. It officially opened in mid-February.
Run out of the Kimpton Saint George hotel in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, the retreat offers new moms a modern twist on the traditional Chinese practice: meals, educational instruction and child-care services.
With a price tag starting at $1,000 per night with a minimum three-night stay, it’s a luxury not accessible to most. The retreat offers average nightly price reductions at 7 and 30 nights, with a month-long package costing $25,000.
“Having a baby is hard, there’s no debate about that. But it doesn’t have to be so hard,” Ms. McConville said. “Our goal is to have everything they don’t know they need. We want to take away that mental load.”
Over the last decade, interest in postnatal retreats centred on the 1,000-year-old Chinese tradition has been growing around the world. Such retreats, often with a hefty price tag, have opened in Asia, Europe and Latin America, and in 2022, the first U.S. retreat opened in New York.
It’s another example of the private sector offering care services in Canada, as companies look to health care for growth opportunities. Alma Care is backed by Simple Ventures, a Toronto company that provides startups with funding.
Ms. McConville emphasizes that the retreat does not replace medical care. But she says that by helping women understand the signs of postpartum depression and spot health care concerns such as infections early, postnatal retreats can support the public-health care system.
She recognizes the price is a barrier, and says the company is offering less costly at-home services like overnight care and lactation consulting, starting at $45 per hour. She is also working with insurers to understand how the service might be covered.
New moms, along with their partners, take up residence in earthy-pastel painted rooms equipped with a breast milk fridge, coffee machine and access to a breast-pumping machine. The suite comes with a fully-stocked changing station and wheeled bassinet.
A parents’ lounge is available for mingling with other guests, and a staffed nursery waits to take care of babies throughout the day or even overnight.
Doulas, breastfeeding experts and personal support workers are on staff to help in education, from latching techniques to bathing. Chiropractors and masseuses specializing in new moms and infants are available for an added fee.
Booking dates are flexible owing to the uncertain timing of childbirth. “We’ve gotten pretty good at playing check-in Tetris” she said.
The original rules of zuo yue zi bar new mothers from washing their hair, brushing their teeth, reading, leaving the house. Some women strictly follow the restrictions, making the practice somewhat controversial. At Alma Care, where self-care is the object, no such rules are enforced.
Research on the practice has been mixed: Some studies have found it helps mothers bond with their babies, but others have found that limiting activity for a month increased postpartum depression.
Ms. McConville said the Canadian household structure contrasts with that in China and other Asian countries, where multigenerational houses can help provide infant care.
As of 2021, multigenerational households (those housing three or more generations) accounted for 2.9 per cent of all private households in Canada, and those living in these households made up about 6 per cent of the total population, according to Statistics Canada.
“There isn’t that in built in support system here,” Ms. McConville says. “There’s a shift happening in postpartum care. Getting support can be normalized, and there’s a big demand for it.”