The Chinese Confinement Tradition

I’ve decided to go through with Chinese “confinement”.

When a Chinese woman has given birth, she is expected to observe a month of confinement where : she has to stay at home, eat certain foods, stay warm, restrain from getting her hands wet, not wash her hair (I think they’re flexible on the hair washing these days), not carry anything heavy and loads of other stuff.

Suffice to say, my mother has been over every morning with chicken in brandy sauce, chicken with sesame and ginger, pig trotters in vinegar, boiled red dates, ginger this, ginger that.

I actually think this is a big step for me. It’s not like me to do something that sounds dodgy. And the whole idea of being cooped up in the house sounds very unhealthy. Physically and emotionally, in terms of getting my life back to normal, settling into a new routine and discovering a new life with the baby. But I want to do it.

long walks by the river with baby in the new pram. Joining new mother’s groups. Going to post-pregnancy aerobics classes. That’ll all have to wait.

I guess I have this strange desire to connect with the people in my asian community. They’ve all went through with it. They have no idea why. Or what it all means. It’s just a tradition. And I guess sometimes that’s a pretty good reason.