Recovery Process: 30 day confinement period

I volunteered or 'my mom made me' go through the 30 day confinement period. I wanted to research it and see what the meaning of it was and the rules.

History lesson:

This is a Chinese custom called the 'sitting month' lasting 30 days in which the mother and child stay home and recover after childbirth . Depending on family and which part of China you are from, traditions may be different. What is common among the differences is it involves the yin (negative/cold) and yang (positive/hot) and to be a healthy individual you need a balance. 

 After childbirth your body is imbalanced, more yin and less yang, due to the lost of blood and energy during labor =so your body is more cold.  

During this month you are trying to get:

MORE YANG =eat hot foods/stay indoors 

AVOID YIN=avoid the cold and outside.

The reason behind this is to increase breast milk for nursing, helps restore the energy level of the mother and child, promote blood circulation, and strengthen your joints. Basically to make sure your body is back to being balanced.

This is my experience with it.

1. No washing of hair or body because it is believed the water will put more yin into the body and cause arthritis, asthma, and severe aches and pains in the future. Warm boiled water or water boiled with ginger root or Chinese herbs are okay.  

This takes a lot of dedication. It took my mom about an hour to prepare everything and get it boiled. So I would bathe about every three days. Ingredients were lemongrass leaves, ginger roots, and orange peels. Surprisingly I didn't really mind this. It was nice to be in the steam. The ginger bath definitely made my hair and body very warm and hot. My hair actually became very soft.

2. Along with avoiding the outside, make sure to put on layers of clothing, such as long sleeve shirts, socks, and slippers. 

Even if your house is 70 degrees, I still had to wear socks and a sweater. Thank goodness it's the winter. I can't imagine doing this during the summer. It is because you want to kept the warmth in and make sure you don't get any wind.

3. Eat foods that are more yang/hot. Eating raw vegetables and fruit is not allowed because they are considered cold foods. Foods that are more yang are chicken, ginger, dates, rice wine, eggs, vinegar, red vinegar.

It/s definitely not easy because some of the Chinese herbs and ingredients used are expensive. And not everything tasted so great so my mom would make me eat everything. No leftovers!
Since I don't eat meat my mom made salty fish for me and steamed it in ginger. Basically anything cooked in ginger is okay because ginger is a hot food. Ginger rice, ginger fish, ginger soup, everyday ALL DAY!
All the ginger my mom prepared. Right is the image of dried ginger peels on a 5 foot long table.

A photo of my 30 day meals:

These are the main ideas of the 30 day period and I am done!
My take on it is that it only lasts 30 days so it doesn't hurt to try it. I do feel relaxed especially since I don't have to worry about cooking and I am down almost to my pre-pregnancy weight. Can't wait until I fit into my jeans again!