Wet nursing is seeing low demand in Shenzhen, with most residents saying they would not employ a wet nurse, a recent Internet survey has found.

Some 82.15 percent of the people polled say they would never look for a wet nurse for their babies, compared to 11.69 percent who were open to the idea of employing a wet nurse, according to a report on the www.sznews.com Web site yesterday. But the report did not give the number of people who participated in the survey, which was jointly conducted by the Shenzhen Evening News and some Web sites not identified in the report.

The report did not elaborate on the composition of the polled.

The health condition of wet nurses was the biggest concern of the online respondents. More than 70 percent said it is difficult to make sure that a wet nurse is free from any kind of infectious disease that might be passed on to the babies.

Some 65.32 percent of the polled say the profession of wet nursing may not last long. They say the wet-nursing service offered by some household services firms is a promotional practice to attract the public's attention.

Nevertheless, the majority of the respondents think positively of wet nurses, saying that they are trying to earn a living.

Earlier media reports said a local household services company had started offering wet nursing service in the city. The city's first wet nurse Xiong Baoxia, from Jiangxi Province, currently earns 2,000 yuan per month to feed a 1-year-old boy.

Editor: Yan