.::. Confinement 101 - Part 2 .::.

.::. Confinement 101 - Part 1 .::.

8 common questions of confinement

Is it true that one could make use of confinement to condition their body constitution? How could the body be conditioned and how to do confinement? How to nourish the body based on different body types? These are common questions which pregnant women ask and 8 common questions will be reviewed from a professional’s standpoint.

1. Why should one do confinement? What is the purpose? Can it really change the body’s constitution?

As the mother loses a lot of blood during labor, together with sweat, back aches, tummy pains – this is a very physically tiring process. Your tendons and bones and blood is weakened and makes it easy for the cold to invade the body. This requires a period of time to adjust and nourish your body. Thus, it makes confinement essential to restore health. During confinement, do suitable exercise and rest, including suitable food for and tonics to help the uterus contract to its natural size before birth. With proper conditioning, blood and stamina would slowly recover and become better than before. During this period, poor constitution would also improve.

2. What are the basic principles of confinement?

(a) Be mindful of temperature difference.

Due to different environments and change in weather and temperature, the mother should wear suitable clothes and prepare suitable electronic devices indoor to adjust the temperature and humidity. Indoor temperature should be kept at between 25-26 degrees with a 50-60% humidity. The mother should wear long sleeves, long pants and socks to prevent catching a cold. This also prevents the joints from ‘having wind’ and pain.

(b) Appropriate work and rest

To expel toxins and to recover the body and figure, suitable rest and exercise is necessary. During the initial stage, the mother will feel weak and tired with possible headaches and should rest in bed. One should not get out of bed for more than half-an-hour. Wait till your strength is restored, you can extend this time and keep it to an hour or two to prevent prolonged periods of standing or sitting that will cause backaches and back-pains, knee and joint pains.

(c) Keep clean

Hair and body should be cleaned regularly to stay fresh and prevent bacterial infection

(d) Adjust your diet

The previous steps are similar for everyone. However, for diet, there should be a distinction based on one’s constitution. Also, the expulsion of toxins and breastfeeding may be difficult for some, or when there’s cold, ulcers, itch, gastric etc. This is when diet and medication has to change.  In the past, due to less ideal environments and bad living conditions without electrical appliances, confinement rules were stricter, for example no showering and washing of hair for a month. However, in modern days, people do not need to go through these hardships, but diet plays the biggest role and it’s best to get a Chinese doctor to recommend accordingly based on body constitution.

3. Must alcohol be added in all confinement food?

Confinement food should be cooked with ginger as it warms the uterus and joints. The purpose of alcohol is for blood circulation and helps in the expulsion of toxins. If all toxins are expelled fully, cooking with alcohol may cause the uterus to not shrink.

4. Why is ginseng prohibited during initial confinement when it nourishes and increase strength?            

During confinement, the body starts to expel all toxins and fluids. Ginseng increases strength (补气) and stops the blood (止血). Ginseng causes blood to lessen (血晕变少), making it difficult to expel the toxins and causes blood clots and pain the uterus. Thus, wait for 2-3 weeks before consuming ginseng.

5. The effect of different seasons on nourishment

The diet has to be adjusted based on the 4 seasons, otherwise there will be side effects. Traditional confinement food is heaty and suitable for winter. During summer and spring, ginger and alcohol can be reduced. If the weather is extremely hot, alcohol can be omitted but add 2-3 slices of ginger.

6. What are the principles of confinement for women with different body constitutions?

The different body constitutions and food analysis as follow:

Cold Constitution (寒性体质)

Characteristic: Pale, afraid of the cold, pale mouth and seldom thirsty, urinate often with pale urine, clear pale tongue, liquid mucus, phlegm, get colds often.

Food: Weak tummy and intestines, cold hands and feet due to poor blood circulation. Eat more warm food such as sesame chicken but not too oily food to prevent diarrhea (如麻油鸡、烧酒鸡、四物汤、四物鸡或十全大补汤等) Warm food can aid blood circulation, nourishing the blood and strengthening the bones, preventing backaches.

Prohibited foods:  Cold fruits and vegetables such as watermelon, papaya, pomelo, grapefruit, pears, star fruits, oranges, tomatoes, melons, rock melon

To eat: Lychee, longan, apple, strawberry, cherries, grapes.

Hot Constitution (热性体质)

Characteristic:  Red face and eyes, heat intolerance, warm feet and hands, dry mouth, dry stools or constipation, thick yellow mucus, less urine but yellow, dry and red tongue, ulcers often, skin sores.

Food: Not to eat too much sesame chicken, When cooking sesame chicken, reduce ginger and amount of sesame oil and alcohol. Other recommended food for nourishment include herbal chicken, black glutinous rice, fish soup, pork ribs soup, vegetables like shark-fins melon, winter melon, lotus root to reduce heatines or vegetable-tofu soup. For those with backache, cook pork kidney soup after frying it with (杜仲五钱).

Prohibited foods: Lychee, longans, apples

Eat some: oranges, strawberries, cherries, grapes.

Neutral Constitution (中性体质)

Characteristic:  Not too hot nor too cold, no dry mouth, seldom fall sick.

Foods: Easier choice of diet can nourish with herbs and food with no issues. If nourishing food causes dry mouth or pimples, stop nourishing food for a period and eat more cooling vegetables or fresh orange juice or grape juice without ice.

7. What are the common symptoms after birth?

Common symptoms are anemia, insufficient breast milk, mastitis, metritis, bodyahce, backache, diarrhea, headache, constipation.  High iron foods such as meat, black glutinous rice porridge, red bean soup could help anemia. For constipation, eat bananas, sesame paste with honey. For engorgement (可用1两麦芽糖、3钱蒲公英、3钱王不留行，共同炖煮食物吃，可促进排乳。)

8. Reasons for aches after birth?

As the baby feeds as they sleep for a long time and the mother sits for too long with sometimes long nights of carrying the baby, backaches and pain in the elbow and wrists. To avoid such pains, the mother has to be mindful of posture, have support at the back, rest more, walk less and do not get out of bed for more than an hour. 可炖煮杜仲猪腰汤，恶露干净后可吃十全大补汤（内含杜仲、续断），对解除筋骨酸痛都有不错的效果。

 Hsio S Confinement recipe

No fruits for first and second week to prevent water retention.

First day after birth (5 meals a day):

Breakfast: Fish with ginger soup, sesame mee sua, green vegetables

Lunch: Sesame pork liver, 5-grained rice, mixed vegetables.

Tea: Sweet corn porridge

Dinner: Herbal chicken leg, salmon fried rice

Supper: Sweet potatoes with brown sugar

Next 3 weeks:

Week 1:

Seabass fish soup, pork liver to expel toxins

Week 2:

Pork kidney and nourishing soups to replenish calcium and minerals.

Week 3:

Sesame chicken