Tell Me Why?
It’s my second confinement, but there’re so many pantang that I have no idea why we are still practising them.
1. No bathing until day 12
Sorry, I took bathe right after came back from hospital. The room I stayed in was rather hot and I was sweating a lot. Once I reached home, MIL already prepared some ginger water for me to bathe with. Luckily, MIL allowed me to bathe everyday, if it’s my mum, have to wait until day 12. Can’t imagining not bathing for so long.
2. No hair wash.
I’m bad, I curi-curi washed my hair. Last time MIL “caught” me air-drying my hair but kept quiet. I know she doesn’t like it, but I still wash my hair once in a few days. Can’t help it as I didn’t want to cut my hair short since I prefer to tie it up. I salute those who can tahan until 30 days then only wash their hair!
3. Chicken and ginger
I have chickens almost every meal. I don’t take p*g’s stomach, kidney, liver or other body parts. So, MIL sticks to cooking chicken, vege, fish and p*rk for me by adding ginger. A bit bored of chicken already after taking for 2 weeks. As for ginger, I never like it. But now I’m forced to taste it every meal, sigh!
4. Don’t sit, just lie down
MIL and my mum complain that I don’t lie down enough to prevent my uterus from falling off. Seriously, will the uterus fall off if we don’t lie down after delivery? I’m taking care of 2 kids so it’s really hard to lie down most of the time. During the day, I’m spending time with Justin; at night, I’ll get up to burp or change baby’s diaper after feeding. Baby poos after every feed, and I don’t like her to soak in messy diaper until morning. Of coz, hubby wakes up to help sometimes, but I kesian him looking so tired the next day when he’s going to work.
So, should we just lie there throughout confinement period?
5. No plain water
Gosh, I’m thristy! I only drink red dates water and I was told not to take plain water. Why? Sometimes I forget and “accidentally” drink some plain water. What’s the effect of taking water during confinement?
6. Don’t touch tap water
So, how am I gonna wash my hands or brush my teeth? This pantang is totally impossible for me. I failed it, and old folks say I’ll get “fong sap”. Really?
Well, luckily my MIL is rather open, or she prefers to let me have my own way. If not, I won’t be able to break the rules and enjoy being full time at home now.
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May 8th, 2006 at 2:48 am
So many pantang really difficult to get through the month eh? Luckily I have no one to dictate to me the pantang, so I can choose the convenient one. Hehe.
May 8th, 2006 at 3:04 am
my wife also took bath and washed her hair immediately after returning from hospital… LOL!
May 8th, 2006 at 3:15 am
we not stay in china lar, no need follow those funny pantang one! lucky i hv open minded MIL too, if stay with my mum, sure cannot this and that one!
May 8th, 2006 at 4:01 am
1. No bathing until day 12
No, i took my bath everyday with those herbs boiled water.
2. No hair wash.
Then…thanks for your saluting. I washed my hair after 30 days. But, i used the powder to comb my hair occasionally. I hate the powder, it just like dandruff
3. Chicken and ginger
Chicken and pork were my main meat. Unfortunately, not serve with ginger as my MIL said my body could stand the heaty!
4. Don’t sit, just lie down
I think sit should not be problem unless you stand. Walking staircase also prohibited during confinement period.
5. No plain water
I curi-curi to take plain water too. As my confinement was on March, it’s a hottest month. As old folk’s tale, taking plain water is allowed “wind” going into your body.
6. Don’t touch tap water
My case, my mother boiled the water and store up inside the toilet.
May 8th, 2006 at 6:31 am
I didn’t have anyone to reprimand me not to do this and that. I’m coping alone with my boy after delivery, no confinement lady or MIL, just my hubby so I can do whatever I wanted. So you are lucky too!!!:P
May 8th, 2006 at 6:44 am
my wife was informed about the pantang but ignored all of them (coz her MIL my mum so far away cannot check)
May 8th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
All the pantang doesn’t make logical sense to me, except the ginger and chicken portion.
After we have given birth, there’s supposed to be lots of wind in us, that needs to be expelled, and our body becomes very ‘cold’. So that’s why we need to take things to expell this, and keep us warm. And certain meat contain different protein which may affect healing, and I guess that’s why we’re limited to eating certain meet.
The rest of the pantang came from our old ancestors where they didn’t have hot water and live in cold country (China). And these rules came from them, and just passed down to us, not taking into considerations now we have modern facilities.
Btw, I just followed 3. The rest I didn’t follow..
On a different note, I want to check with you, did you wean off Justin very quickly after you were pregnant with Isabelle?
May 8th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
hehe..I think not all can be practice one, esp. the one no wash hand with pipe water!! Hotel can lah got warm water from the pipe :p.
I also wash my hair and bath right after I got back from hosp. Imagine all the dirt, she sticky hair..aiyoo..where can stand lah
May 8th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
2 weeks later my baby will pop..and my mum already tell me all the things ‘not’ like wat u listed…she even collect those newspaper article show n prove to me why it cannot…no water tap water, even wash hand n wash aft toilet?…i can take every ‘no’, but not to take bath i dun think i can take it..i dunno how now…actually if wan to follow is more than tat…i think i force to follow as they are ppl who come across this process and those pantang i believe it will bring goodness to us when we get old…
May 9th, 2006 at 6:43 am
MG, now I begin to think that we who’ve gone thru it without a CL are so lucky and fussy free!
Egghead, same here, how to stand being so dirty?
Jesslyn, that’s why I chose not to stay with my mum during confinement, she’s really strict, and I think I’ll end up fighting with her!
Hui Sia, your mum really considering to boil the water for you to use. No one volunteer to do for me, so I just let it be loh…So troublesome to do it myself. Oh no, I’m walking up and now the staircase, can’t help it as my room’s upstairs and I need to get down during daytime.
Khongfamily, give me five! We’re in the same boat!
Daddy nick, your confinement lady so good? Normally CL won’t allow the pantang to be broken.
Zara’s mama, oh, it took me a month to wean him off. My milk supply decreased dramatically during the second month and my nipples are too sored to be suckled. I started supplementing formula once I found out I’m pregnant, and got Justin hospitalised due to cow milk intolerance! So, after struggling for a while, he begins to take it well.
Of coz, he’d rather starve himself from taking formula if I’m not bf him. He’s quite keras kepala. I talked to him a lot, and was strict on not to bf during the day, not at night I’ll nurse him to lull him to sleep, if he’s having problem having asleep. MIL and my mum help me to take care him at night sometimes so he’s less attached to the breast. He dropped some weight too during weaning.
Don’t worry about weaning off, it comes naturally. Some mothers bf thru out pregnancy if it’s a smooth one. I can’t do it because I was spotting and bleeding. BTW, let your gynae know you’re bf if you’re still doing it now. But most of them are not supportive.
Jazzmint, too bad my place also don’t have hotel facility, skip that pantang loh…
Judy Chow, it’s a personal choice. If you can stand it, then just follow the rules. It’s really hard since I’ve gone thru twice. Well, get prepared to pop!!!
May 10th, 2006 at 2:09 am
“Ng teng lou yan yin, hek khwai joi ngan chin” (cantonese proverb)(heehee).
Actually I think all dat u mentioned refers to the olden days in China and here is M’sia lar. But with old folks around, I’m sure they’ll not allow us to this or that. But I do agree dat it depends on the individual whether she’s strong enough.
I was no allowed to drink plain water too. But after a week, I was so bored with drinking red dates water, I ’stole’ some plain water and it was like GOLD WATER to me, enjoying every drop of it.
And this is from my experience. I curi curi mixed the herbal water which my CL prepared with cold water (in which we are not supposed to do do) every day cos the herbal water was so hot and I had to wait until it was not too hot. I couldn’t wait and I told her I could bear. Inside the bathroom, I poured cold tap water into the bucket of herbal water. I was not supposed to wash in cold TAP water (sang lang sooi) too. Water must be boiled and leave to cool. And of course, sometimes I didn’t obey.
After a month, after my confinement period, my joints (almost every part) ached like ‘hell’. When I sat down, I couldn’t stand up on my own. I needed my hubby to help me up. So, maybe I should have listened *tongue out*.
May 10th, 2006 at 6:03 am
Soon, i’ll be going thru all these and the same questions will cross my mind. I washed my hair also on the 12th day, and took Gordon out to have his birth cert and ic registered. But i made sure both Gordon and i are all wrapped up like a “jung”.
As for all those pantang larangs, i only practise those that sounds downright logical to me. I dont live in China, it’s Malaysia for god sake, lol.
May 12th, 2006 at 10:12 am
All these pantang things. Gwai loh no these kind of things one. But my MIL said that because they have different type body/immune system - different genes. Anyway ginger is very medicinal in a lot of ways, even the gwai lohs also know about this. I had black sweetened vinegar ginger and pork every day with ginger fried rice. I had that for three weeks. beside that MIL also did some chicken wine soup with chinese fungus. No vegetables at all during the confinement.
May 22nd, 2006 at 12:31 am
i’m quite lucky.. my MIL quite open… but wat she said.. i just follow… like after 30 days only wash my hair.. not step down staircase… lie down on the bed… eat 5 times a day…i just follow wat i can follow… i think it is good for ours in future… u cant see rite now… but it depends on ur own believe lah…