Me Time!

[FB555]

Most of the confinement customs are passed down from older generation who came from China. In China, they have more cooling weather than Singapore, so it is difficult to follow such custom like no air con and no fan and no bathing during confinement. I still bathe , wash my hair during confinement period. How to tahan under this weather if you don't bathe and cannot turn on the fan. :siao:

[FB555]

Enjoying my ME TIME! now, watching a K drama showing now on channel U. So funny and i keep laughing. :rotflmao:

[bebebub]

slmkhoo:

I personally think that following confinement customs too rigidly can cause postnatal depression! I get depressed just hearing what people have to go through! I refused to follow any customs and just did what I felt like, including washing hair, going out etc. The only concession was eating some confinement food for a few days because my mother cooked it, but I also ate and drank what I wanted. I did all the babycare myself too. 17 yrs on, 50 yrs old, I don't seem to have suffered any effects. I did the same with my 2nd when the older one was 2yo.

So many 伟大的妈妈。After 8-9 months of carrying the bb to full term, still gotta 'suffer' another month of confinement.

I didn't hv any confinement. I just ate whatever I wanted sensibly. I did stay away from coffee, sashimi n spicy food as I bf my bb.

I managed my bb on my own. With no confinement lady, nobody imposed any 'rules' on me.

[bb_ mom]

My mum wasn't too fussy about confinement rules. I got to shower & wash my hair everyday, with some kind of herbal stuff & hot water. Didn't really have to eat confinement food. Just ate more fish (for more milk) and pork & chicken. No pig trotters' thing cos I don't like it. And was out and about after 2 weeks. My mum was asking, what confinement?

[icy_mama]

bebebub:

slmkhoo:

I personally think that following confinement customs too rigidly can cause postnatal depression! I get depressed just hearing what people have to go through! I refused to follow any customs and just did what I felt like, including washing hair, going out etc. The only concession was eating some confinement food for a few days because my mother cooked it, but I also ate and drank what I wanted. I did all the babycare myself too. 17 yrs on, 50 yrs old, I don't seem to have suffered any effects. I did the same with my 2nd when the older one was 2yo.

So many 伟大的妈妈。After 8-9 months of carrying the bb to full term, still gotta 'suffer' another month of confinement.

I didn't hv any confinement. I just ate whatever I wanted sensibly. I did stay away from coffee, sashimi n spicy food as I bf my bb.

I managed my bb on my own. With no confinement lady, nobody imposed any 'rules' on me.

:hi5:

same for me too... no confinement lady, bathed everyday, stayed in aircon room, catered confinement food, did housework and bathed all babies by myself. my mum told me \"next time u old liao then u know...\"

i asked her if she got aches here and there now, she said \"yes, old liao sure have..\"

told her, precisely my point... last time u gave birth u followed everything old ppl say u still get aches here and there. so, nothing to do with following confinement practices or not.

she gave me peace thereafter. :imanangel:

[bb_ mom]

I think it’s ok to follow the practices so long as you’re clean and comfortable. It’s not difficult to eat the confinement food so I do it to keep mum happy although I was sick of eating fish every meal or avoid touching water to keep MIL happy. But if tell me cannot shower or stay in aircon, that’s impossible. Will perspire which is unhygienic. Then how to take care of baby. Plus will break out with rashes.

[sharonkhoo]

icy_mama:

:hi5:


same for me too... no confinement lady, bathed everyday, stayed in aircon room, catered confinement food, did housework and bathed all babies by myself. my mum told me \"next time u old liao then u know...\"

i asked her if she got aches here and there now, she said \"yes, old liao sure have..\"

told her, precisely my point... last time u gave birth u followed everything old ppl say u still get aches here and there. so, nothing to do with following confinement practices or not.

she gave me peace thereafter. :imanangel:

That's what I told my mother too. Since she dutifully kept the rules and still has the aches and pains, I reckoned it really didn't make a difference! And I was in the UK at the time, where no-one followed those rules, and yet there were many grannies who were so much more active and healthy than Singaporean ones - some still cycling around at 60+!

Thinking about some of the practices, most of them have to do with hygiene and nutrition when conditions are poor. If the only bath water is from a river or pond, the woman is likely to get an infection if she bathes before everything heals. Hence the need to boil it, and the herbs are just that bit of extra medication. Similarly with drinking cold water - better to boil it to kill the germs. If there is no hairdryer and it's winter time, hairwashing is probably a bad idea. And if the general nutrition is poor, having better food for the woman as she recovers and begins breastfeeding makes sense. My mother gave up on me too!

[janet88]

after perspiring, clothes and body smell awful. if I don’t bathe, how am I to bf? I felt like a cow then and if smelly and not allowed to bathe/wash my hair, I would have post-natal depression.

[ngl2010]

icy_mama:

:hi5:

same for me too... no confinement lady, bathed everyday, stayed in aircon room, catered confinement food, did housework and bathed all babies by myself. my mum told me \"next time u old liao then u know...\"

i asked her if she got aches here and there now, she said \"yes, old liao sure have..\"

told her, precisely my point... last time u gave birth u followed everything old ppl say u still get aches here and there. so, nothing to do with following confinement practices or not.

she gave me peace thereafter. :imanangel:

Well said! My mom allowed me to do/eat anything and MIL didn't stay with me so I did/ate whatever I want. But what you said applies to my MIL. She didn't dare to eat a lot of things for fear of rheumatism but now she has rheumatism. :roll: And my mom who eats almost everything doesn't have rheumatism.

[icy_mama]

slmkhoo:

...... My mother gave up on me too!

our mothers could :rant: together.

then again, they should be glad we could take care of ourselves and the babies at the same time.