‘They are more careful’
This chapter analyses a poorly understood health practice: transnational caring for infants and children. A reproductive paradox provides the point of departure. A majority of births were registered to foreign women in Prato, Italy, yet many parents sent their babies back to China. The chapter focuses on decisions among transnational migrants, particularly Chinese parents working in the Made in Italy fashion industry, that result in the formation of global households. The chapter draws on hospital ethnography in the intimate space of a paediatric exam room and interviews with migrant parents and health-care workers. Qualitative data analysis reveals parents’ privileging of quality care. Findings challenge health-care professionals’ critical gaze and shed light on how migrant parents cope with transnational lives as non-citizen entrepreneurs and workers. Finally, understanding parental decision making may improve how practitioners approach health problems, particularly in a context of intensified migration and mobility.