preparing for confinement
taken from here:
In the olden days, the month immediately after delivery is considered a time that we've to really take care of ourselves and is call confinement period. This is because during this period the mother's physiological and mentally changes. Traditional Chinese, Malays, and even some Europeans nowadays believe than when we take good of ourselves during these period, we will be healthier when we’re old.
According to ancient Chinese text, women who follow the traditions taboos (pantang) during this period are said to be 'doing the month' when the new mothers and her baby are practically confined to their room. Some practice 30 days to 40 days for their confinement period. It is probably from here that the word "confinement" is coined.
The practice of not bathing and washing hair in the old days are understandable because in ancient China everyone has very long hair and it takes a longer time to dry the hair after washing. In addition, most of the old houses are draughty so it is easy to catch a chill whether during confinement or not. Our mothers and grandmothers swear that if we bathe during the confinement month you will develop joint pains in your old age. However, the bath water must be boiled and infused with water from boiled herbs. Somewhere over the years someone introduced the tradition of bathing with a whole concoction of herbs in the water such as lemongrass, ginger and some other herbs.
If the newly delivered mother uses up all her energy with strenuous work and is over tired, she will not be able to produce sufficient milk for her baby. Remember, in the old days all babies are exclusively breast fed. Also it takes about 6 - 8 weeks for the body to return to its pre-pregnant state therefore the confinement is to ensure that the mothers properly recovers from the stress of childbirth.
from left -
(1) a confinement recipe book! my mum will be doing all the cooking during my confinement period; she must be worried she'll run out of ideas of what to cook. i'm kind of looking forward to the pork trotters in black vinegar and red wine chicken!
(2) lemongrass and ginger - to be boiled for bathing - yes, i'm allowed to bathe! in fact, my mum thinks it's crazy not to! there's still loads of other herbs and stuff in the fridge like dried longans, red dates, black fungus, encommiae bark (du zhong, supposedly good for the backaches) and what-have-you...
(3) DOM, black vinegar, etc - for cooking. mark&pauline - thanks in advance for the DOM! (oh, and the nursing cover and customised rompers!)
(4) glutinous rice - this is what we had for lunch today, not actually for in preparation for confinement, but mum's experimenting with this dish so that she can prepare it for the kiddo's first month!
scribbled at 4:11 pm
.::.
taken from here:
In the olden days, the month immediately after delivery is considered a time that we've to really take care of ourselves and is call confinement period. This is because during this period the mother's physiological and mentally changes. Traditional Chinese, Malays, and even some Europeans nowadays believe than when we take good of ourselves during these period, we will be healthier when we’re old.
According to ancient Chinese text, women who follow the traditions taboos (pantang) during this period are said to be 'doing the month' when the new mothers and her baby are practically confined to their room. Some practice 30 days to 40 days for their confinement period. It is probably from here that the word "confinement" is coined.
The practice of not bathing and washing hair in the old days are understandable because in ancient China everyone has very long hair and it takes a longer time to dry the hair after washing. In addition, most of the old houses are draughty so it is easy to catch a chill whether during confinement or not. Our mothers and grandmothers swear that if we bathe during the confinement month you will develop joint pains in your old age. However, the bath water must be boiled and infused with water from boiled herbs. Somewhere over the years someone introduced the tradition of bathing with a whole concoction of herbs in the water such as lemongrass, ginger and some other herbs.
If the newly delivered mother uses up all her energy with strenuous work and is over tired, she will not be able to produce sufficient milk for her baby. Remember, in the old days all babies are exclusively breast fed. Also it takes about 6 - 8 weeks for the body to return to its pre-pregnant state therefore the confinement is to ensure that the mothers properly recovers from the stress of childbirth.
from left -
(1) a confinement recipe book! my mum will be doing all the cooking during my confinement period; she must be worried she'll run out of ideas of what to cook. i'm kind of looking forward to the pork trotters in black vinegar and red wine chicken!
(2) lemongrass and ginger - to be boiled for bathing - yes, i'm allowed to bathe! in fact, my mum thinks it's crazy not to! there's still loads of other herbs and stuff in the fridge like dried longans, red dates, black fungus, encommiae bark (du zhong, supposedly good for the backaches) and what-have-you...
(3) DOM, black vinegar, etc - for cooking. mark&pauline - thanks in advance for the DOM! (oh, and the nursing cover and customised rompers!)
(4) glutinous rice - this is what we had for lunch today, not actually for in preparation for confinement, but mum's experimenting with this dish so that she can prepare it for the kiddo's first month!