When most women recount their postpartum recovery experience, there usually isn’t much to remember. I mean sure, there are memories of peri bottles, engorged breasts, and busted blood vessels in their eyes. But what about the aftercare aspect of recovering from childbirth? Many nations, specifically America, are still severely lacking in necessary postpartum care protocols. After giving birth vaginally, the average American woman will be discharged from the hospital 24-48 hours after giving birth. She is then sent home, newborn baby in tow, and is expected to care for her new nursling while simultaneously resting and recovering from childbirth.

While many women are fortunate enough to have friends, family, or a postpartum doula to lend a helping hand during this challenging season of their lives, others simply aren’t as fortunate. This lack of support can often lead to an increased risk of postpartum depression, a higher instance of formula use, and worse health outcomes for both mama and baby.

South Korea, however, seems to have found a solution for this lack of postpartum care, and it has quickly become deeply ingrained in their culture. Around 2012, South Korea began rolling out postnatal care facilities, a new business model that is completely unmatched worldwide and has become wildly popular and currently utilized by approximately 6 out of 10 Korean women.

These postnatal care facilities provide a holistic and integrative approach to caring for postpartum mothers and their newborns. These centers offer around the clock assistance from nurses, which allows mothers to have all their questions answered by a medical professional. They also have nursery care, where babies are safely swaddled and laid to rest under the watchful eyes of their caretakers, allowing mama to shower or get some sleep herself. These postnatal care centers even offer a variety of parenthood-centric classes, focusing on important topics such as breastfeeding, safe sleep practices and other vital information that might still be unknown to the new mom.

But don’t be fooled- it’s not only about baby. These centers have combined all the amenities of a quasi-medical setting with the luxurious feel of a hotel spa. New mothers are invited to get massages, attend gentle postpartum yoga classes, and eat chef-prepared mealed that are specifically crafted to nourish the postpartum body. A traditional dish that is often served to postpartum mothers in South Korea is a seaweed soup known as Miyeok Guk. This soup is traditionally said to purify the blood and help boost lactation.

Unsurprisingly, such services do come at a price. A 2-week stay at a South Korean postnatal care center will run you approximately 3 million won, or 2,500 USD. Still, for many new Korean mothers, the expense seems to be well worth it, as shown by their booming popularity. And although charging for such services might not be ideal or accessible to everyone, we can only hope that other nations will soon follow suit in recognizing the need for and adopting progressive postpartum protocols to better support new mothers.