Confinement 103 – Confinement Care For New Moms

Previously, we’ve explained about the month of confinement, why it’s deemed necessary in most Malaysian households, and how to avoid puerperal symptoms during and after the confinement period.

In this 3rd part of the Confinement 101 series, we’ll be covering a few common physical treatments for new moms that are popular in different Malaysian cultures, how they help relieve postnatal symptoms and illnesses, and why our 28-Day Confinement Healing Soup matters for your quick postpartum recovery.

Part 1: Common Local Postnatal Treatments

1. Uterus Steaming (Tangas)
A new mom might suffer from a sagging uterus, displaced uterus, or unpleasant vaginal odour. Vagina steaming is like a private spa that helps the uterus to relax and expand, allowing for any discharge or blockages to flow out easier. If she doesn’t take care of it, her ovaries may shut down, causing premature menopause.

2. Herbal Sauna
Herbal saunas are great for new moms experiencing muscle and joint pain, colds, headaches, compromised immunity, inability to breastfeed, weakness, spine pain, dry skin, and other postpartum symptoms. It also helps to soothe the skin and relax her mind and body.

3. Param
Param is a traditional medicated talcum paste made of natural herbs. It is applied onto the new mom’s tummy and abdomen to relieve pain and wind. The ingredients in the paste change by region, but the most common ones used are lime, galangal, turmeric, ginger, sand ginger, red ginger, garlic, and citronella.

4. Pilis
Pilis is also another traditional medicated talcum paste applied onto the new mom’s forehead to relieve headaches, migraines, wind, and eczema. The paste also helps to shrink pores and increase blood circulation to the head. They are typically made up of cinnamon, clove buds, and tailed peppers. Some treatments use the same formula as the param paste as well.

5. Iron Hot Compress (Tungku Besi)
The iron hot compress is beneficial for relieving wind, improving blood circulation, warming up the body, and speeding up recovery in general. Different herbs are prepared for the hot compress, easing absorption of their medicinal properties into the new mom’s open pores. It is also a good way to detoxify the body.

Part 2: The 28 Days of Soups (And Why it Matters)

It’s tough making sure you choose the right help, the right centre, the right products, and the right diet for your confinement period. All that stress can’t be good for you or the little one.

Let us help you ease the burden a little with our 28 days of confinement healing soups. They’re all neatly pre-packaged into 28 sachets of herbs for your convenience. You just need to pop them into your slow cooker, and you’re well on your way to recovery.

The herbal soups for each week are geared towards your total recovery by focusing on these 4 stages: Recovery, Relaxation, Rejuvenation, and Strengthening.

Week 1: Recovery
Your body is thoroughly exhausted from the months of carrying your precious baby. It’s a lot of hard work, and your body is going to need some time to heal itself!

The first week after your baby’s birth is extremely crucial for the recovery of your internal organs and balancing of your hormones. You’ll also be needing a lot of nourishment from your diet, as now is the time for your body to start discharging lochia, including old menstrual blood, and dead tissue.

Photo by ronnachaipark on Freepik

Week 2: Relaxation
After a week of recovery, your body finally deserves some downtime after a long nine months of intensive labour and overworking. You’ve had your share of physical and mental stress, so now you have to let your body heal.

Since your internal organs and hormones are beginning to recover and function more regularly, it’s time to let your body relax. Studies have shown that relaxation helps your wounds recover up to twice as quickly. We’ll help you with relaxing those overworked muscles to increase your qi and bring some strength back to your core.

Week 3: Rejuvenation
You’ve just had a nice and relaxing week, so it’s now time to build your energy back up and experience the whole new person you’ve become.

Don’t forget that your body is still in process of healing itself, but you’re already past the halfway mark to total recovery! Let’s speed up the activation of your cell renewal functions and build back some muscles and tissues while your body is at it.

Week 4: Strengthening
Almost there! In your last week of recovery, you need to be strengthened even more so you can go back to your daily routine on your own. Your core needs more vigour and strength to prepare you for your daily activities.

Besides, you’re just getting used to the first few stages of new motherhood, so there still are a lot of things to learn. You’ll need all the energy boosts you can get from your diet, so why not throw in a mug of Ginger Tea with Red Dates to help you along with that?

Rest assured that our 28-Day Confinement Healing Soup set contains only the freshest herbs of the highest quality. Our in-house TCM doctor handpicks the ingredients, fine-tunes recipes, and schedules the menu of soups so you get the most suitable herbal benefits whenever your body needs them the most.

By the end of the 28 days, you will see great improvement in your overall health. The benefits of these soups are as below:

• Helps discharge lochia
• Strengthens the waist
• Nourishes blood and Qi
• Regulates blood circulation to organs
• Reconditions the mind and body
• Reduces weight and water retention

For the whole list of soups and their individual benefits, visit our 28-Day Confinement Healing Soup product page.

Preparation:
Slow cooker method: Add herbs to 200ml water and boil for 4-8 hours, but no more than 8 hours total.

Stovetop method: Add herbs to 300ml water, bring to a boil on high heat then simmer for another 30 minutes.

You can drink it plain, boil it with lean meat, or have it with rice – drink it however you want. Voila! Another nourishing meal to make you feel good all day.

In a nutshell

Once your child is born, your body will be very, very busy repairing itself for the next few weeks. It’s a crucial time for you to take care of your wellbeing. Your body is going to need all the help it can get. Get your daily dose of tonic goodness with our herbal soups, and you’re already halfway to recovery.

Make sure to regularly attend your postnatal massages and don’t neglect your mental health as well. It takes time to adjust, and we’re all here to help you transition smoothly and beautifully into your new motherhood.

Remember, any woman can give birth, but it takes a special someone to be a real mom.