Here are some of the wive tales belief and what is my verdict of it:
Do not allow any part of your body to be touched by cold tap water
- TRUE: I could not believe it but it was true. Me (konon) a modern mum did not really believe in this myth so I washed my hand with cold tap water during my confinement. A month after confinement, I had painful joint pains in my fingers. My in laws told me that I did not follow the rule of not touching cold water. It was so painful...so whether I believe it or not, I will obediently abide by this rule in my future pregnancy. Better to prevent than exprience it. By the way, after rubbing some chinese oil on my fingers and taking glucosamine supplements, the pain has subsided. However, I still experience joint pains during raining season.
Do not wash your hair for a month
- NOT SURE: I of course could not stand not washing my oily hair for a week. So my confinement lady told me i could wash it once a week with condition that it must be dried straight away with a hair dryer and my scalp must be massaged with whisky (yes..whisky). I think this rule is to prevent any wind to enter your scalp which is to prevent any headaches or migraines.
Eat hot food (i.e. sesame oil, ingredient, rice wine, ginger) to heat up the body
- TRUE: Well partly true for me. Of course for the first 2 weeks after delivery, the body will feel cold because we lost a lot of blood during delivery. So these foods are to heat up our body. The first 2 weeks was okay for me but the weeks later...it was bit too heaty for my body. I was sweating profusely and later on I was having sore throat due to the food. I even told my confinement lady to cook less of these type of food. I think my body is heated up too much.
No fan or aircond
- SEMI TRUE: Well I insist that the aircond must be switched on during my confinement. I can live without the fan. Can you imagine confined in a room with the hot humid Malaysian weather without aircond or fan and all covered up. I believe that rule is to prevent any cold wind to enter the weak mother's body after delivery.
Bath only in cooked water
- NOT SURE: I don't know why we need to bath in cooled cooked water. The shower is find with me. However, no harm of bathing in cooked water. There are some strict belief that do not allow the confined mothers to bath for 40 days!
Cover yourself when out of the house such as a hat and a cardigan
- TRUE: This is to prevent the mothers from catching a cold or getting wind entering their body. However, I had to admit I did forget to wear my hat a few times when I went to visit my baby boy in the hospital. Of course, during those first few weeks...your body will feel a bit cold. So better to bundle up before stepping out of the house.
Of course, there are more rules to abide to . For me, anything is okay with me as long as me and the baby are in good health.
1 comment:
The Indian people have the same restrictions wrt to cold and keeping warm and eating heat adding foods... it all aids healing and prevents lo from getting sick... I could not understand.. but followed it and had a speedy recovery and healthy baby. know of too many moms and babies who did not follow custom and suffered the consequences.
Post a Comment