One of the main ingredients a post-partum mother has to eat is ginger. Ginger apparently helps remove the “wind” that has accumulated in the mother’s body after delivery. How did the wind get in my body - I have absolutely no idea. According to traditional Eastern medicine, wind in the body is bad because it can cause a person to develop medical conditions later in life, such as rheumatism.
Time and time again, I’ve been nagged by various, well-meaning relatives on the importance of resting and taking care of myself in the one month after delivery to ensure that I preserve my future health. Even my MIL has been nagging me about my habit of washing my hair in the evenings and leaving it to air-dry. A couple of times she sternly said that there should be no more evening hair washing, even if I intend to blow-dry it with a hair dryer. Washing you hair is apparently one of the ways “wind” gets into your body and that’s why confinement practices stipulate no hair washing for some twelve to twenty days post delivery.
I’ve digressed, so back to the ginger and the confinement. After the ginger rice tea my MIL made for me, I glad she decided to buy me the ginger honey - which was a lot more palatable. Although I enjoy the flavour of ginger in foods like ginger ale and ginger bread, I’m afraid I dislike it in almost everything else. I think I can now add ginger honey to my list.
Hmmm… I think I detect an association with my preferences here. What’s different about the gingery foods I’ll happily consume? They all contain sugar… copious amounts of it.
The other liquid my MIL has said I should drink during my confinement is called “red date water”. Now that I am okay with. As long as I don’t have to drink ginger rice tea, I think the confinement drinks should go down fairly easily.
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I got a feeling your mil will keep you away from computer during your confinement.
I was lucky as my mother and mother in law werent with me during my confinement. So I can just do what i want to do eg going out, wash my hair, eat whatever i want, surf net most of the times.. ha ha ha
Confinement lady? Yes. I did have one but excuse me.. I am the boss.
better stock up on the red dates, wifey finished 15kg of it during her confiment.
it’s addictive…even i drink it.
hehe. i remember having ginger rice tea almost everyday for the first 2 months after i delivered.
i never even finished the 3 bottles of benedictine dom my mum and some well-meaning relatives bought. try 50 ml! those bottles have since changed ownership- i gave them to my mum!
having said that, too much ginger is also not healthy, especially for baby since you will be breast-feeding. i remember the paediatrician telling me, the week after i delivered and we went back to the hospital for em’s 1-week check up, that i should cut down on ginger consumption, cos she was getting really yellow! haha. i could tell my mum, “i told you so!” then. sad to say, though- em was admitted for jaundice that day itself. bummer eh?
hang in there. everything in moderation is ok. as for the hair washing- hahahaha…and bathing! i washed my hair 12 days after i delivered because i couldn’t stand the itch. although my dad was kind enough to buy me powdered “confinement” shampoo.
i revelled in telling my mum i was gonna wash up- then locked the room door, eagerly took a nice warm shower and stood in front of the air cond AND standing fan, both going at full blast, to dry myself!
hahaha.
Hehehe… Chia Yen, I love your style!
Stupe - All I can say is: OMG! 15kgs!?
PL - Have laid out all the warnings about ginger, so I’ve been told I don’t have to eat it, just as long as they can cook with it. I suppose that’s okay, isn’t it?
I can tell you must have enjoyed that bath! My compromise with the hair washing was that I agreed to wash during the daytime and to blow it dry after. I finally got a hair dryer after all these years! :op
figur8,
The message I got from hospital is you can take food cook with ginger.. Just dont eat the ginger.. Then it will be alright.
I heard about overtaking the ginger will cause the baby get jaundice too <– Even my confinement told me this.