Hello everybody. Thank goodness for internet otherwise I might really go crazy at home. So this is the recovery time after childbirth. I’m at home doing my chinese confinement in Singapore. Baby Daniel is doing well and it’s nerve-wrecking as first time parents.
I got the hang of carrying a newborn and breastfeeding relatively well. Baby Daniel is very cooperative and smart which helped in the whole breastfeeding process which can be quite stressful for a lot of people.
Read also: 5 tips for a successful breastfeeding journey
Seeing his many expressions and how he tries to communicate is so heartwarming.
So anyhow, post-partum, this is what my day looks like:
Wake up, eat, feed baby, change diaper, sleep, wake up, feed baby, change diaper, eat, sleep and the cycle goes on and on. There is no day and night to this. My friends are receiving messages from me sometimes at the wee hours of the night now.
But it has been very rewarding seeing my little one grow from day to day.
The big question is really how’s chinese confinement in Singapore so far. My MIL is my caregiver during this one month of confinement and her knowledge and values are very deep-set traditional. The Cantonese are known to be the best at chinese confinement.
The first two weeks of my chinese confinement in Singapore, I will be eating a lot of very plain stuff to recover.
My confinement daily meals consist of:
• steamed chicken thighs with rice
• steamed salmon with rice
• steamed minced pork with rice
• sea cucumber mee sua with chicken essence
• pure chicken essence made from 2 breast meat
• green papaya fish soup
• potato, carrot, tomato, pork and fish soup
• and I only drink this special tea that is brewed from red dates, black dates, longan and rice
It’s not really as bad as it sounds.
I am also super lucky to have found Valerie who is helping me with my post natal slimming treatment. She is peranakan and super knowledgeable about everything confinement since she has been in the post natal care business for so long. I will be sharing with you my experience with her soon. :)
Between my MIL and Valerie, I have been a good girl, observing the following practices during chinese confinement in Singapore (so far).
Chinese Confinement Practices
• no showering (but Valerie advises to use a microfiber cloth to wipe whole body)
• no fruits & vegetables (Valerie advises that fruits and vegetables all have wind. The black dates in my tea will help to provide fiber)
• cannot drink room temperature/cold water (if water has been cooled down, it must be heated up again or there is wind)
• must wear slipper everywhere in the house
• when wiping body, must use the ginger herb boiled water
• cannot touch any water that has not been fully boiled
• don’t eat or drink standing up
• bedrest as much as possible (this sounded ridiculous to me at first but after you give birth, you will feel uneasy after standing for too long, at least for the first 1 – 1.5 weeks)
• always close your legs when sitting or standing
• wear socks and long pants
• absolutely no drinking of plain water. Only the special tea is allowed.
• don’t let fan or wind blow at you
• cannot carry heavy things or bend over (even my gynae said NO SQUATTING)
Look at how auntie and awful I look during my confinement.
It is interesting to see if all of this will help my body recover and possibly be even better than before. One thing’s for sure, Baby Daniel is going to be needing a healthy mommy to take care of him :) Besides, to be honest, the first month with your newborn is really quite hectic. You will not have any spare time to think about food and you’ll just eat whatever that’s put on your table.
Thanks for following me on my pregnancy journey so far. :)