1 month confinement

No matter how ‘modern’ and well educated u are.. i believe confinement is very important..WITHOUT following the crazy strict rules though.. See, our body has just done one of the most remarkable things, which is growing another human being, 9 months of pregnancy, it does change our body tremendously, and then during child birth, our body has been through a trauma during delivery..having to say that, we need time to recover! Confinement period gives us the chance to rest and eat well.. which is why i believe we should avoid going out, since we r recovering..pay attention to our body, and let it fully recover.. eat healthy food, sleep, and manage the baby. But do shower, warm shower helps, i dont believe in not showering as we need to take care of our hygiene! Apart from that, eat balance foods- carbs, protein, fruits and veges.. i usually eat less carbs and more protein as protein is crucial for helping our body to recover from childbirth.. I do my 30 days confinements for all 4 kids.. i look at it as a period for me to just rest , concentrate in recovering and taking care of the newborn.. get as much help as you can during this time.. as for myself, i am lucky enough as i have good support system in the family.

I did a DIY confinement where I only adopted "rules" which I felt were logical to follow. I did not hire a confinement lady. Instead, I catered my own confinement food, showered more than once a day with confinement herbs (or just hot water), and walked around a lot, much to the chagrin of my elder relatives. They chided me on walking around so much and not wearing long pants. I also ordered 28 day confinement herb package from Eu Yan Sang, which my dad helped to brew. I'm lucky in the sense that my husband and father are hands-on and we managed to cope even without a helper. I also took care of my baby as much as possible. Compared to other first time mothers who gave birth in the same month as me, I was confident handling my baby (bathing, diaper change etc) even before my confinement ended. I feel it's most important for the mother to be as relaxed as possible, rather than restrict herself to all the confinement rules, some which may not apply in today's context and Singapore's climate.

In moderation. I ate normally during confinement, mainly noodle, fry fish and economic rice. Just don't take cooling or overnight foods. Drink more dang guai soup and red dates water for breast milk. You can stay in aircond room but don't exposed to wind as wind bring moisture into our body. Our body pores open to expel water content during confinement. Use warm water only for bathing and dry hair/body before come out from bathroom. Remember to continue with prenatal supplements and calcium if you don't want to take chinese herbs. It's important for bm supply. Rest more for body internal organs to "reorganize" themselves after losing the big lump. Don't compared yourself with Caucasian. They are big size and eat lot dairy products so body is naturally "warmer"

It is very important and critical to follow to the confinement rules! But there are some that are not suitable for our time and climate like the bathing - Chinese herbs or hot water is ok. Just need to keep in mind the idea is not to catch cold or wind. Cold and wind will not cause problems in ur body now but they most definitely will when u are match older when ur defense is not as strong to suppress it anymore. U can find the eyes tan sang article abt confinement. The good news is that if u did not do a proper confinement, every post delivery is an opportunity to reset and set things right. So if it's ur last child alrdy or when it comes to ur last child, make sure u do a good confinement I studied tcm

To me it's very critical but to be honest old wives tale of cannot bathe for a month does not apply in modern days. In the past, they have no water heater & the bathroom in the Olden days are not like now, door can close tightly so cold water to them is too chilling & wind will easily get into their 'open concept' bathroom. Now we have water heater, just quickly shower & towel dried, wear comfortable clothes with socks will do. I follow all rules except for the bathing part. It's just for a month and my body will recover fast. I see for myself. Those who did not do confinement properly usually are weaker. May not happen in next few years but it might happen 10,20 years later. So I rather do properly now than to regret

For me, right away after delivery, I go Bath. In islam, we called as mandi wiladah (bath after deliver a baby). This is wajib to do for every Muslim women. N then start confinement at home like bertungku (I did myself), berurut with bidan (3 days), always wear bengkung, Wear socks, avoid oily food, avoid spicy food, drink milo (milkbooster) and drink a lot of plain water. Always put some hot cream on your stomach before putting a bengkung, should help kempiskan your tummy hehe. N before eat also, wear bengkung first. So that u won't eat much hehe. If u got jahit bawah/ceaser. Please eat lot of sunkist orange. It will help pulihkan your luka. That's all what I did.

Not showering / washing hair is not part of the current confinement "rule" btw. TCM has said many times that in Sg context at least, it is important to bathe n keep hygiene. Just ensure body n hair is quickly n fully dried. So i ate well, rested when i could, avoided carry heavy loads, no cold water , spicy food, duck for that 28 days. Body is great. Btw i kept a thermos of hot water in my toilet so i can mix with tap water to make warm water when i need to wash my hands or even brush teeth. The temperature of water really makes a difference because initially i used tap water and my hands started to ache. After using warm water i was okay.

I was sceptical initially but I was glad I followed through. Your body really recover faster and you don't feel "bone-deep" aches. I still washed my hair every 2 days with warm water. Just make sure to blow dry immediately. Food-wise, it's not the best tasting for the first couple of weeks, but the intention is to let your body repel wind and water as much as possible. Also try to not wash your hands with cold water. You will be carrying the baby loads after confinement, so please take care of your wrists. I didn't listen to my nanny for this and now I get wrist aches at night when I carry my daughter.

I did my confinement as for showering wise i only shower my body alternate days using warm water with herbs if not i will use a small towel to clean my body using warm water, didn't shower my hair but i use a kind of powder which is specially for confinement use to get rid of odour, oil and itchiness. Rest as much as possible, lie down if possible. I lie down most of the times, during night time i am looking after the baby by myself, so when he sleeps i will sleep. Better do proper confinement before you regret in future.

Get healthy foods, enough plain water, move around (dont just lying down but avoid lifting weights and too much movements after first week of delivery). Massage, bertungku helps to relax muscles, pamper yourself. About food, it depends on your body actually. Some can trigger allergy then avoid them. Cannot say you cannot eat this and that because our body is different.. Any ridiculous rules must be avoided such as cannot bath, cannot drink a lot because can make the uterus "mengembang" and so on 😅