NEW mothers in Shenzhen will have 30 more days of maternity leave, according to a draft plan released by Shenzhen’s health commission Friday.

    This means new mothers could have 158 days of maternity leave, regardless of whether it is the first or the second child, the commission said.

    The change is being made to encourage families to have a second child after Guangdong’s legislature passed an amendment to the family planning law, following the National People’s Congress, to allow couples to have two children.

    It’s thought mothers born in the 1970s will need longer maternity leave to recover because of their age.

    Yao Jilong, president of Shenzhen Maternal and Child Health Hospital, supported this draft, saying it was made based on the situation in Shenzhen as the average age of expectant mothers in Shenzhen will be over 30, higher than the present 28.

    A resident surnamed Wang, a mother of a 6-year-old child, plans to have a second child.

    “The longer maternity leave will enable me to take care of two children,” Wang said.

    Shenzhen hospitals are seeing an increasing number of consultations for second children with most women aged between 30 and 45.

    In addition, a woman who gives birth to her first child at age 24 or older is regarded as having a “late childbirth,” and entitled to an additional “late maternity leave” of roughly 30 days.

    (Han Ximin)