Each child receives an annual subsidy of 3600 yuan until they reach the age of 3, which is expected to benefit over 20 million families raising children... Recently, the national childcare subsidy policy aimed at using "real money" to alleviate the pressure of family raising has been released. However, some new parents have reported that infant formula, diapers and other maternal and child products have quietly increased in price recently, and some products have even seen significant increases. On the other hand, some merchants claim that only a few categories have slight price fluctuations, and the price increase is not related to the introduction of childcare subsidy policies. Consumers and businesses have different opinions on whether to raise prices. What is the real situation? According to media surveys, there has been a phenomenon of varying degrees of price increases for some maternal and child products in recent times, and it is indeed true. Although it remains to be confirmed how much of this price adjustment is due to policy "stimulus" and how much is attributed to objective factors such as rising raw material prices. But the high overlap between the price adjustment time and the release period of the childcare subsidy policy naturally leads to associations. This phenomenon needs to be viewed in two ways. On the one hand, the childcare subsidy policy aims to alleviate the burden of family childcare through economic leverage, and also helps to boost the willingness to have children, which itself sends a positive signal to the mother and baby market. Based on this, market participants accurately capture and quickly convert it into price adjustment behavior. Although it may not be "reasonable" for consumers, it is to some extent "reasonable" because it conforms to the general operating logic of the market economy. That is to say, such market reactions cannot be universally regarded as' chaos'. On the other hand, 'subsidies come before price increases' may objectively dilute the actual sense of gain brought by the childbirth subsidy policy to families, thereby weakening the incentive effect of the policy on fertility willingness. This reminds us that to effectively balance the comprehensive effects of market response and policy implementation, targeted supporting measures need to be improved. Firstly, a price monitoring mechanism for maternal and child products can be established to prevent some market entities from taking advantage of policies to increase prices unreasonably. If there are experts, it is suggested that the competent department should establish a special monitoring mechanism for infant and toddler product prices as soon as possible, focusing on tracking the price trends of essential products such as milk powder and diapers. For behaviors such as colluding to raise prices and artificially inflating prices by taking advantage of policies, strict punishment should be imposed in accordance with the law, increasing the cost of illegal activities, and exposing typical cases to create a deterrent effect. Secondly, more attention should be paid to improving the market structure related to fertility demand, encouraging full competition, breaking industry monopolies, lowering market entry barriers, allowing more market entities to participate in competition, and providing consumers with more cost-effective consumption choices. This is also the rightful meaning of the supply side reform in the fertility market. In addition, diversification of subsidy methods can be explored, such as direct price regulation, government centralized procurement at parity supply, etc., to avoid market distortions caused by a single cash subsidy. In the long run, it is equally important to establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for maternity subsidy standards based on indicators such as the Consumer Price Index and per capita disposable income. The market chain reaction and social concerns caused by maternity subsidies once again demonstrate that encouraging childbirth is a systematic project, and simple economic subsidies are just one part of it. To truly build a fertility friendly society, comprehensive policies such as healthcare, education, housing, and employment need to be coordinated to create a social environment that allows young people to "want to have, dare to have, and be able to raise". Only when the actual anxiety of childbearing families is fully alleviated, can the willingness to have children truly increase. At that time, the fluctuation of prices in the mother and baby market will not become so sensitive and cause such great social attention. To a certain extent, the correlation between childcare subsidies and the price increase of maternal and child products tests the sensitivity of market supervision mechanisms, as well as the determination and wisdom to build a fertility support system. How to avoid the warmth of policies being diluted by excessive market reactions, and how to make various fertility friendly policies directly reach families without discount, still requires more exploration. (New Society)