Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy from Ba Vi in Hanoi has five children with the nicknames Com (born in 2018), Coca (2019), Du Du (2021), Xoai Non (2022) and Bing Chilling (2024).

Thuy gave birth to the first baby in 2018. Of the five children, the third child – Du Du – is a boy, while the others are girls.

“The name Du Du (Papaya, or enough as in a homonym) was given to the third child as we meant that we have both a boy and girls,” Thuy said.

“The fourth child was named ‘Xoai Non’ because I like the hot girl called ‘Xoai Non’. I hope that my child will also be as beautiful as the hot girl,” she explained.

The name Bing Chilling was used for the fifth child because she was born at the time of the Bing Chilling trend. ‘Bing Chilling’ means ‘ice cream’ in Chinese. “All the four elder children like ice cream. And my husband can speak Chinese. So the smallest child was given that name."

“My parents also have seven children. We gather together on holidays and ancestors’ death anniversary days and we are very happy about this,” she said.

“I grew up in a large family and I like the feeling of being together. My husband’s parents have three children and my husband is the only son, so they also like to have many grandchildren,” she explained.

2 chickens for every meal

Before getting married and giving birth, Thuy was the owner of a fashion shop, and her husband was an electric vehicle trader.

In Ba Trai commune in Ba Vi district, Thuy lives with her husband’s parents in a spacious house. As the grandparents have good health, they can help Thuy take care of thr children. They also raise fowl for the family’s food and for sale.

Thuy said her husband is the major breadwinner of the family. He works in Hanoi and returns home in the suburban district once or twice a week.

“Taking care of one or two children is hard work, let alone five children,” Thuy said.

Com (Green rice), the eldest child, is going to primary school. The next three are going to nursery school, and only the youngest, five months old, stays at home with the mother.

Thuy alone has to undertake all the work. “I get up at 5 am daily and feed my children with milk. After that, they sleep again until 8-9  am, and then get up, have breakfast, and play with each other. While the children are playing, I prepare lunch for the whole family. The lunch for four elder children must be ready by 11am,” Thuy said.

“Every child has a tray of food of his own, a separate dining table and their menu is different from the adults,” she said.

After lunch, children once again go to bed, from 1 pm to 3 pm. When they get up and play, Thuy prepares dinner. Children have dinner at 5.30-6 pm, and adults at 7-8 pm.

Thuy, who is busy all day taking care for children, said she once hired home help, but ther person left just after one month.

Asked about spending, Thuy said the family with five children spends VND50 million a month. Money is mostly paid for diapers, milk, clothes, tuition, vaccinations and vitamins for mother and children. She doesn’t have to pay a lot for daily food, because grandparents raise fowl and grow vegetables.

“We always have 100-200 kilograms of fowl in cages. Pork is provided by my sister who is running a restaurant,” she said, adding that she just has to buy shrimp, fish and seafood.

“We need two chicken or duck for each meal,” she said.

Nguyen Thao