Confinement is one of (if not, the ONLY one) dreaded aspect of pregnancy and motherhood that really turns me off everytime I think about it before pregnancy and throughout pregnancy.
I tried to communicate with my MIL which turns out to be really important and good! I have to say thankfully my MIL is someone who is willing to communicate and takes initiative to ask. In addition, my wonderful mummy also communicate with her to share about my likings and not as she is worried if I would be able to adapt, eat well and recover quickly.
So one of the top hated DON'Ts for confinement is BATH!
But as we all know, modern mums seriously don't wanna care!! and I think modern mums are unlike mums of 10 years ago who are still pretty obedient and willing to follow the rules. haha and for your good info, May 2013 was one of the hottest month of that year and I totally would die if not allowed to bathe and if also made to cover from top to toe. I will die, seriously die... ...
Anyway I was actually told by one of the Malay masseur that the reason for this confinement tradition of no bathing comes from the fact that in the past, toilets were located out of the house and so new mummies would be proned to catching cold by going out to shower. BUT now we have our toilet not only in the house but right in the room! haha
So how did it go for me? After going through it, I realised that there is indeed good cause for the restrictions and all. I think it is all about compromising and making good sense of what is essential and what can be forgo.
As you all may already have known and heard about all the bathing in herbal water? Yups, that was what I did as well!
My MIL was very nice and she took the effort to get friends to buy herbal packs from Malaysia for me. It was a total of 30packs. She will boil it every night or very early morning to keep this pot of concentrate aside. Then she will add hot water via the highest temp on the instant heater to a basin and add the herbal concentrate in. So I was allowed to wash my hair and bathe EVERYDAY!! I was even allowed to use the usual shower gel and shampoo. *Envy me*
I guess it was the best compromise I could ever get! But some ground rules which she set and I think are pretty beneficial and perhaps are really the core of the issue!
1. Always bathe before sunset
> This was pretty tough and upsetting at times because sometimes all I want is to go for a nap when Eva naps but I have to take the opportunity to get my bath!! I could jolly well miss the timing and miss my chance of bathing. So is between sleep or bath. After sunset, temperature start to drop.
2. Always close all the windows and fans in proximity of bathroom
> This was easy since all along I have always been scared of cold and the last thing I want is to have cold air running up my back! Especially so when I am using scoop of waters instead of direct shower head.
3. Always drink some warm drink before and after bath
> This also helps to warm up the body especially the core. For those of you who are okay with alcohol, taking some DOM / Yomeishu will be good too. I cannot take alcohol. Tried taking like only 10ml of DOM, I felt totally sick soon after. Maybe I drank it too fast. My face flushed, eyes turn red too and I felt giddy and sleepy. That was the 1st and the last. haha
4. Always ensure that water is real warm (actually hot) when going to bathe
> This was tough too as I dont like cold water, neither is my skin accustomed to hot water! Well, water that is too warm makes my eczema flare. But well, I try to do it slightly more warm but not hot.
5. Always blow dry hair immediately after bath (after drinking some warm drink)
> This I follow as wet hair can really make you sick when the wind blows! I had one occasion with damp hair, one side drying it with hair dryer, on the other side I set the fan on for ventilation, resulting in a bad night of feeling like I came down with a bad cold and body aches. It went away pretty quickly after keeping myself warm.
With all the above, haha basically you get to bathe but not without sweating it out all over again soon after the bath. Haha I can only say "be grateful!".
I do not know how does the herbal water works BUT I did hear about people mentioning to bathe in water that has been boiled before. My mum always prepare cool boiled water ready for her to wash her hands or any stuffs when necessary. A friend did her own confinement and she only ensure to bathe in hot water and sort of similar ground rules above. All turn out fine even though they did not use herbal water.
So I guess the whole principle behind it is to ensure that you are kept warm and not at risk of catching a cold! So to fellow mummies who really wish to bathe, you might want to consider the above method; daddies might want to share the info with your own mummies as well so they can give your wife a break on that.
For me, so far so good 8 months after confinement. =)
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